The Price of the Future
by Shadewolf7
Summary: ON HOLD/Being rewritten
1. Prologue

_Naruto does not now, and likely will never, belong to me. Thank you and good day._

_xxxx_

_Prologue_

"You didn't think I'd leave you to do this on your own, did you… _Hokage?_"

"Gaara!" Naruto looked up, a smile that was only the faintest shadow of the grins of his youth crossing his face.

Sasuke shot a sharp glance at the Kazekage, "You, too?"

He received a curt nod in return, and Naruto handed the newcomer a scroll. "Glad you could make it. Is Shukaku in on this?"

"He will need to be sealed again when we finish. What of Kyuubi?"

"The fox isn't as bad as he used to be… he's actually the one who came up with the idea."

Sand swirled and settled, "Then let's do this."

The three cut open their thumbs and smeared blood across half-furled parchment before allowing several drops to hit the seal on the ground, collectively channeling every last drop of chakra they had into symbols that exploded into smoke and light.

_xxxx_

_Points to anyone who can guess what this is about. And here's a hint: it's way overdone, but rarely finished. I'm hoping to not add mine to the list of wallowers, though I shall have to catch up on my Naruto… As I'm currently a full-time student, that'll be tricky, especially with finishing my other stories, but I will do my best. Updates will be slow, and coming chapters will be significantly longer._


	2. Return

_Return_

Sasuke sat in his 'customary' position, chin braced on interlocked fists and ignoring everyone around him, silently thinking that he'd been a real jerk at this age. The only person he _hadn't_ ignored entirely was Naruto, and that was because the baka would get so far into his face it was simply impossible.

Now, though, he wouldn't be able to ignore the shorter, still-wearing-that-hideous-orange-jumpsuit boy that he considered his best (and maybe _only_) friend. Sasuke just hoped that Naruto had made it, too. He did _not_ want to deal with the blond in his 'idiot stage' again.

Sakura and Ino burst into the room and started bickering about who got to sit next to him, and Sasuke rolled his eyes. It was good to see them alive, yes, but they were even more irritating than Naruto had been at this age. He opted for ignoring the catfight happening less than four feet from him and went back to staring at the front wall, noting his classmates with detached interest.

He hadn't been close to any of the rookies that had been killed, not really. He'd counted Sakura a friend of sorts, but never more than that. She was too obsessive for him to understand--and Naruto would throw a laughing fit if he heard _that._

Thinking of the orange eyesore… there he was.

The blond dodged around still-snarling _kunoichi_ and stood next to Sasuke.

Sasuke raised his head off his interlocked fists just enough to glance at the boy sitting next to him, grinning vibrantly. One black eyebrow raised.

"Naruto." His voice was perfectly level, but hinted at something underneath. _Hokage._

Instead of pulling one of the stunts he'd been infamous for in the academy, Naruto replied with an equally level "Teme."

Sasuke gave a slight nod and whipped a kunai at Naruto's head, smirking as the blond caught it.

"Damn it, Sasuke! What the hell was _that_ for!?" Naruto pocketed the kunai, growling at the gashes in his palm.

"Just checking to see if you were you, dobe" Sasuke sounded _innocent. _Sasuke! That was just _freaky._

The exchange managed to end the girl's bicker-session and draw every eye in the class to the pair.

"Are you going to give my kunai back?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto snorted, "No way, teme. You could have killed me with that thing! It's mine, now."

Sasuke shrugged, "Fair enough."

Sakura and Ino were outraged that in two minutes, Naruto had managed to get Sasuke's attention, and the whole class was more than a little surprised that the Uchiha actually held a _conversation_--albeit a brief one--with the Dead Last.

Sasuke held conversations with _no one._

_xxxx_

Iruka's arrival and subsequent announcing of the Gennin teams came as no surprise to the two 'returning students', but did manage to get attention away from them for a while.

At lunch, Sasuke opted for a spar… and who was Naruto to turn him down? They needed to figure out their younger bodies' limitations, after all.

"No Ninjutsu!" Sasuke called.

Naruto nodded acknowledgement--it wouldn't do to show their classmates techniques that they shouldn't even know existed--and pulled a kunai, mirroring Sasuke's pose.

They _blurred_, halting with a screeching clash of steel on steel, then springing apart only to launch back at each other again.

Sasuke leapt back, whipping out three shiriken in Naruto's direction--the blond flipped out of the way and sent a kunai back at his friend.

Sasuke tilted his head, feeling a slight tug as the blade caught at a strand of hair, then smirked.

Naruto blanched, "I know that look," he muttered, tensing in a crouch that could have him springing in any direction at a moment's notice.

A handful of senbon needles hissed through the air, matte finish almost invisible even in the light--he dodged as best he could, but his body wasn't keeping up as well as he was used to and three hit solidly, a burning pain spreading out from one of the impact points.

Naruto's eyes widened and he yanked the senbon loose, cursing violently as the steel dropped from his hand and he swayed.

Sasuke froze. "Kuso!" he snapped, darting over towards the faltering blond, easing him to the ground with one arm while reaching for the dropped needles with the other--there. Barely noticeable even above the smear of blood, a purplish tint to matte black.

"Thought… this was a _spar_, teme…" Naruto was more than a little dazed.

"Kuso, kuso, _kuso!_" Sasuke ignored the sudden gathering of students and Iruka shoving through the crowd, "I didn't know any of them were _poisoned!_ I found them in the vault--the others were fine!"

Naruto closed his eyes, breath coming shallow and fast.

"Naruto!" Iruka's voice cut through the anxious silence, "Sasuke, what happened!?"

"We were sparring," Sasuke looked up at the teacher, who was surprised by the guilt and concern on the normally impassive face, "I found some senbon needles in the weapons vault this morning, so I decided to try them out…" he pointed to the bloodied needles, "One of those was poisoned."

Iruka stepped forward and knelt, "Sasuke, stay here. Everyone else, go to the classroom and wait for your instructors." He checked vitals with quick efficiency.

"We need to get him to the hospital, _now._"

Naruto took the opportunity to speak up, though his voice was faint, "Don't… bother. They won't treat me, anyway. Besides… it's getting easier to breathe."

Iruka gave the boy a searching glance, noted eyes half-open and clear. He wanted to ask, but not in front of the other student.

Sasuke felt the same, "You're sure… Naruto?"

A slight nod, breathing evening out and slowing. "Give me a few more minutes. I'll be fine."

Sasuke sighed and shifted his grip on the blond, motioning Iruka to come and help him, and they got Naruto braced up against a tree-trunk. "I'm sorry, Naruto," Sasuke began, only to have one blue eye open to glance at him while his apology was waved away.

"Eh, it's not like you were trying to kill me… 'sides, you of all people should know… Fuzzy would be upset if I died…"

Sasuke shifted, to Iruka's surprise and mild alarm. "So the furball is neutralizing it?" At Naruto's grunt of affirmation, Sasuke gave a sharp nod. "Good. I've seen you heal before, but I wasn't sure about poisons…"

Iruka picked up the tainted senbon and thought over the symptoms he'd seen the blonde exhibit. "I think this needle has _kenidori_ on it," he said slowly.

"Who's what?" Naruto asked, sitting up a little straighter.

"_Kenidori._ It's an assassin's poison, extremely lethal even in small amounts. It's a mix of several poisons--the antidote to any one of those is more than likely to add to the potency of at least two of the others."

Sasuke nodded slowly, "I've heard something about that… it's a fast killer." He turned his attention back to the still-shaky blond, "You're still alive, dobe, so it looks like you'll survive. I guess that answers how well Fuzzy can handle poisons."

"Good to know," Naruto mumbled, leaning back against the tree and closing his eyes. "'M'tired."

"Let's get you back up to the classroom," Sasuke stood and hauled the protesting future Hokage to his feet, nearly dropping him again as he staggered badly.

Iruka stepped in, picking Naruto up carefully, ignoring any grumbles. "Naruto, even if the poison is being neutralized, you're in no condition to be walking anywhere. I'd take you to the hospital… if I weren't sure you'll be all right."

"You can sleep in the classroom, dobe," Sasuke added, "Kakashi's going to be at least three hours late… as usual."

Iruka raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. How had the Uchiha known about Kakashi's habitual tardiness? The way he said it… it sounded as though he's had firsthand experience.

_xxxx_

Naruto woke up after about two and a half hours, much to the relief of both Sasuke and Iruka, seemingly completely healed. He glanced at the clock, then the door, then Sasuke.

One golden eyebrow quirked, blue eyes questioning.

Sasuke sighed dramatically, ignoring Sakura and Iruka, who were watching the little exchange. "Fine…"

Naruto sprang up with a happy shout (though quieter than usual) and gathered one of the erasers from the chalkboard. He swiped it through the chalk-powder residing in the metal catch-frame for good measure, then grabbed a piece of paper, scribbled a strange seal across it, set the eraser full of chalk-dust in the middle of it, and started going through handseals at a rather impressive rate.

There was a faint glow when he finished and the chalk was infused with Naruto's chakra, then he ran through a few more seals, hiding the chakra signature on the object--was that even _possible?_--and placed the eraser where it would fall on the unfortunate late Jounin when he arrived.

Sakura started to protest, but Iruka let it alone. Besides, he was curious. He'd never seen Naruto set up one of his infamous little pranks before, though he'd found himself of the receiving end more than once.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Naruto cheerfully crumpled up the paper he'd drawn on and tossed it into the air. "Hey, Sasuke! Target practice!"

He shrugged, went through the seals for a fireball jutsu, and fed in just enough chakra to burn the paper--not much.

Iruka stared while Sakura went into fits on Sasuke's greatness being tarnished by Naruto's idiocy. Since when did the infamous Wall agree to anything so easily?

It seemed as though Naruto and Sasuke were far closer than anyone was aware.

Iruka was pulled out of his musings when the door cracked open and the eraser dropped onto the silver hair of Sharingan Kakashi, one of the most revered geniuses in the village.

And everywhere the chalk settled, his hair shifted to blazing shades of pink, green, and orange with eye-wrenching brightness and horribly clashing colors… that constantly shifted, giving a sense of motion that marked him as a target from miles away.

Sakura tried to apologize while Naruto burst out laughing and Sasuke smirked. Iruka was having trouble containing his own mirth at the sight Kakashi made--he didn't seem to be aware of the color problems.

"My first impression of you…" he paused, "I hate you."

Iruka couldn't help it. He _laughed_.

_xxxx_

_OK, a few things. _Kenidori_--totally made it up. I slapped together a few sounds that seemed to work well to me, it has no intended meaning whatsoever. I may or may not continue this story, depending on whether anyone likes it. I have the idea rattling around in my head, and, quite frankly, I don't know any other way to get rid of it. So… here you go._


	3. Rooftops and Wonderings

_Rooftops and Wanderings_

Kakashi waited for his new team of idiots on the roof of the school, wondering why the four witnesses to the eraser incident thought it was so funny. It's not like he'd tried to dodge… he'd been expecting something like that and hadn't sensed anything dangerous from the trap, and opted to ignore it.

But _Iruka_ had laughed… there was something more to this prank, he just knew it.

And he was right. When the three students joined him on the roof, none of them could look at him without some sort of reaction--strangled snickers on the parts of Naruto and Sakura, and lips twitching towards a smile on Sasuke.

Kakashi sent the idiots a glare laced with traces of killer intent, which got Sakura to stop her giggling and made Naruto collapse into semi-silent fits of mirth. Sasuke's expression broadened into a full smirk.

"You… should really look in a mirror when you find the time, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi straitened. He hadn't said anything about himself, and that included his name. They weren't supposed to know who their team leader was yet, anyway--"How do you know my name?"

Sasuke sent a quelling glance at Naruto, who was starting to calm down, and returned his gaze to the suspicious teacher. "Hatake Kakashi… the only non-Uchiha I know of with a Sharingan. It came up in my research."

That… actually made sense. Of course the clan would have kept an eye on him before it was wiped out… and Sasuke must have found some of their records.

"All right then… introductions. I'll go first, even though Blackie here already knows my name. Hatake Kakashi, I have many likes and dislikes and my dreams for the future are none of your business. Go, Eyesore."

Naruto _glared._ "It's not my fault the stores won't sell me anything that doesn't have 'kill me' written all over it," he muttered, just loud enough for Sasuke to catch.

Black eyes looked at him in alarm, but Naruto ignored it. "Uzumaki Naruto. I like a lot of things, especially ramen; I dislike people who discriminate against me for things I didn't do; and my dreams for the future… I want to protect my precious people and become Hokage." His voice lowered to a mutter that, again, only Sasuke could hear, "Even if it does come with a ton of paperwork."

"Pinky, your turn."

Sakura humphed at the nickname, "I'm Hanuro Sakura. I like…" she trailed off in giggles, "My dreams for the future…" she glanced in Sasuke's direction and blushed--he opted t ignore her. "I hate Naruto!"

Naruto looked briefly hurt by this and Sasuke couldn't help but glare at the _kunoichi_. Naruto had risked _everything_ on a promise he'd made to the ungrateful little--he cut that thought off. She hadn't actually made that request yet…

"Glare-boy, go."

Just for the sake of it, Sasuke shot Kakashi an irritated glance. "Uchiha Sasuke. My likes don't matter and I dislike traitors. My ambition… is to kill a certain man before he gains enough power to harm one of my precious people."

Naruto glanced at him, surprised. He quirked an eyebrow, raised four fingers, and pointed to his eyes.

Kakashi watched with interest as Sasuke gave a tight nod.

"Ne… I have an ambition, too…" Naruto said thoughtfully. "I also need to kill a certain person before he harms one of _my_ precious people."

That… was unexpected. The fact that the Vessel of Kyuubi wanted to kill someone… a disturbing thought. Who, though?

Sasuke seemed to understand and rubbed one shoulder with a grimace while raising a questioning eyebrow at the determined blue eyes. He received a short grin and a nod.

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. Sasuke wasn't taking the part of the avenger, though the person he wanted to kill was most likely his brother, and Naruto was taking on the role of protector… but who wanted to harm someone Naruto considered precious?

For that matter, who did Naruto consider precious?

Slightly distracted, Kakashi gave them instructions on their real Gennin test and sunshin-ed off the roof to the proposed meeting place of all the Jounin instructors and Iruka, who could possibly tell them more about elusive students.

_xxxx_

Naruto stood up, dusting off his pant legs, and Sasuke followed suit. "Train?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded and started to walk away, pausing only to glance back at Sakura, "Coming?"

She perked up at having been directly addressed by her obsession, "Hai!"

Naruto and Sasuke led Sakura to the Team 7 training grounds--though they weren't supposed to know that, yet--and Sasuke showed her the tree-climbing exercise.

While she was otherwise occupied, the two boys took off into the forest for a _real_ spar, though they mutually decided that the senbon were _out._

_xxxx_

Kakashi was, as usual, the last one to arrive, the serious expression in his one visible eye completely ruined by the fact he had color-shifting neon hair.

The few people that had remained--Kurenai, Iruka, and the Sandaime--took one look at him and burst out laughing.

Between fits of giggles, Kurenai managed to wave a hand at his appearance, "Kami, Kakashi," she gasped, "What _happened_ to you?"

"What?" He'd forgotten about the eraser by this point and honestly had no idea what had these people laughing at him.

The Sandaime pointed to a mirror on the wall with his pipe, and Kakashi looked.

And was suddenly caught between amusement and irritation before he remembered why he'd been so thoughtful when he'd originally come. "Naruto." He turned his attention back to the others in the room, "Iruka… what can you tell me about Naruto? He seemed… oddly serious today, given what I've heard about him."

Iruka's mirth died faster than it had come, "That doesn't surprise me. He found out about his tenant last night… and this morning, he and Sasuke were sparring… there was an accident. Turns out one of the senbon Sasuke found in his family weapons storage was laced with _kenidori._ Naruto got hit. He was down for nearly three hours, though the symptoms started abating after a few minutes… he was asleep until a few minutes before you showed up to get them. And… Sasuke knows."

Kakashi sat down and the Sandaime nearly swallowed his pipe. "He told _Sasuke?_"

Iruka shrugged, "It looked like it. Sasuke seems to understand the need for secrecy, however, and it didn't seem to bother him. I think, to quote 'So the furball is neutralizing it? Good.' was his response to Naruto saying he'd be fine."

There was a long silence.

"So… they know."

If the topic weren't so serious, it would have been funny to see Kakashi with his eye narrowed in thought while his hair turned neon green with eye-wrenching orange polka-dots.

"They know."

"What about Sakura?"

Iruka shook his head, "I doubt she would be as… accepting of it."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully, "He wants to kill someone, you know."

Heads whipped around, confusion in intense glances.

"Who?"

"Both of them, actually."

"Naruto wants to kill someone?" Iruka half-whispered, eyes wide.

"He wouldn't say who. What he _did_ say was 'I need to kill a certain man before he can hurt one of my precious people.' The odd thing is, that's almost the exact same wording that Sasuke used when he said he had an ambition to kill someone."

Iruka and the Sandaime both relaxed a bit after hearing that. Wanting to kill someone wasn't a very Naruto-thing, but wanting to protect someone most certainly was. The only question now was… who?

_xxxx_

Naruto and Sasuke returned to where they'd left Sakura, finding her on a high branch. It looked like she'd gotten the hand of tree-climbing pretty quickly.

The boys waved her down.

"You should get some rest before tomorrow," Sasuke informed. "And don't listen to Kakashi; eat something before the test or you won't be in any condition for a prolonged fight."

Once she was gone, Sasuke glanced at Naruto and raised an eyebrow.

Naruto grinned.

_xxxx_

_Kind of a filler, but I need to have the adults questioning a bit. Tell me if I get too OOC, though… I really haven't seen much Naruto. And, as I don't really have much time to watch it (although they have almost the whole thing on tv-links) I'm just going with what I _think_ is right. Seriously, though… correct me if I'm wrong._


	4. The Gennin Test

_The Gennin Test_

Sasuke and Naruto both had the same thought that morning: sleep in. They knew Kakashi was going to be late, so _they_ sure weren't going to bother to be on time. Besides… they'd already set up their traps.

Flashback:

"_We can take him--it's just Kakashi, ne?"_

"Just_ Kakashi_?_ Are you crazy? He's a Jounin--he was in _ANBU,_ Naruto! We're twelve--there's no way we can take him!" _

_Naruto grinned, "Think about what you just said, teme."_

"_Kakashi was in ANBU?"_

"_No--we're _twelve._" Naruto's grin broadened, "Think about it--how did he react to us last time?"_

"_Naruto--"_

"_We're _Gennin._ There's no way he's going to start out taking us seriously. Our bodies may not be up to where we want them, yet, but…"_

"_But we can still plan with the best of them," Sasuke finished. "What are you thinking?"_

"_Well…"_

Sasuke had to admit, it was a good idea. Absolutely outrageous, but likely effective.

All they needed now was to get Sakura to work with them--and, if Sasuke was the one to ask, that was as good as done.

They met at the bridge (where Sakura was waiting) about half an hour before they expected Kakashi to show up.

"You're late!" she yelled, irked to no end.

"Sakura. Kakashi won't be here for another half-hour."

"Huh?" she turned to Sasuke, who had taken to leaning casually against a tree. "How do you know, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted noncommittally and noticed that his chakra was flaring… though not nearly as much as Naruto's. He ignored Sakura's attempts to get his attention in favor of trying to reign his chakra back under control, slightly puzzled at the unusual difficulty in doing so.

Naruto was having the same problem. _Fuzzy?_ He directed inwards at his tenant.

_**I was uncertain that this would happen,**_ the fox admitted. _**Although I was aware of the possibility… your future chakra potential is fusing with your present potential, which will more than double your personal reserves. My own reserves will simply double, as my potential has not changed. I do not know if the seal will be able to handle the strain.**_

Naruto frowned, _Why now? We got back yesterday._

_**Yes, but it had taken **_**all**_** the chakra we had, so our reserves were completely dry. You were not feeling the effects of chakra exhaustion because your present reserves were untouched… I doubt your coils will be able to handle the strain once your chakra builds up so much.**_

_Which means?_

_**It could kill you, kit. Grumpy, too… you will need to find a way to seal it off.**_

_Kuso._

He needed to talk to Sasuke, soon. Although, with the 'test' with Kakashi coming up… they could use up a lot of the extra chakra…

Hm. Kakashi's hair was still… bright.

The Jounin scowled down at Naruto upon his arrival, "Undo this," he growled as Sasuke smirked behind his back.

"Nah, don't think I will," Naruto chirped cheerfully. "Well… not 'till _after_ the test, anyway… It's some kind of combat-thing, right? The hair will make you easier to spot!"

The kid had a point. An extremely irritating point, but a point none the less. "Fine," he led them off into the trees, "Your test is… to get these bells from me." He held up two bells, then tied them to a belt-loop, "If you get a bell, you pass. If not… you get to spend lunch tied up to one of those posts and you will have failed the test."

"Ano… Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura spoke up, "There are only two bells."

Kakashi's visible eye crinkled up in a smile, "Exactly. One of you will fail this test."

Neither of the boys made any sort of sound, waiting the explanation out. Kakashi wasn't going to give them one--they had to figure this out on their own.

"The alarm is set to go off at noon. If you don't have a bell by then, you fail. You must come at me with the intent to kill or you won't stand a chance."

"Is that all?" Sasuke sounded bored.

Sakura shut her mouth, probably having intended to say something about the dangers of asking students to come at teachers with deadly force.

Kakashi smirked behind his mask--no way were any of these gaki going to be able to pull this off. "Begin!"

The Gennin scattered, leaving an orange-clad blond standing in front of the Jounin, who looked a little put off. "You're an odd one…"

"The only thing odd here is your hair!" Naruto glared, then realized that didn't have the insult-value it had the first time around… not with Kakashi's current hairstyle sporting Naruto-prank influence.

Kakashi growled and Naruto charged, prompting the Jounin to pull out… his book. "A lesson in Taijutsu," Kakashi stated, blocking each clumsy strike with ease while Naruto apparently grew more and more frustrated. "Never let your opponent get behind you."

Kakashi was surprised to find the blond facing him, but landed a solid blow nonetheless… and was shocked when the Naruto he was facing puffed into smoke.

_A Kage Bunshin? When did he--where's the real one?_

_xxxx_

"Your clone keeping him busy?" Sasuke asked softly as they went looking for Sakura.

"Not anymore. He dispelled it a few minutes ago."

According to the scream that tore through the woods not long after they'd started out, Kakashi had beaten them to finding her.

Naruto made a handseal and sent a dozen clones in that direction, with instructions to _henge_ if they found him.

"Looks like Kakashi beat us to it."

Sasuke winced, "I can't believe you're actually doing that…"

Naruto suddenly looked a lot more serious than Sasuke was accustomed to, "It doesn't matter how stupid or low you think a _jutsu_ is, Sasuke. If it's effective, use it. We're shinobi, not samurai. Use _every_ advantage. It's saved my life more than once, and it will at least distract Kakashi, if not temporarily incapacitate. I expect you to do the same if necessary."

It was then that Sasuke remembered their respective positions--it was so simple to just fall into being kids again, to pretend the war had just been a bad dream… but Naruto was Hokage and Sasuke was ANBU Captain. "Yes, sir."

"Good," Naruto started heading in the direction the clones had gone, Sasuke trailing behind.

"We'll have to get Kakashi first--then we can find Sakura. Three of my clones found her--one dispelled to send the message. They'll look after her for now."

"And Sasuke?" He sensed the other's attention shift to him, "Use as much chakra as you can. I'll explain later. Kakashi's here."

_xxxx_

Sakura had been easy to find and defeat, a simple Genjutsu putting her under. Naruto and Sasuke had been harder to find, but were working together, much to Kakashi's surprise.

He listened in on their conversation and was shocked at the tone Naruto took. He sounded much older than his twelve years when he _ordered_ Sasuke to use every advantage.

And Sasuke… what the hell was going on?

He felt a faint glimmer of pride when Naruto said his clones had found Sakura and would take care of her… and was immensely surprised that Naruto had sensed him.

Or maybe he'd just seen the hair.

He jumped out of his tree to confront the boys and started feeling distinctly uneasy when Naruto gave a downright _evil_ grin.

"_Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_

Kakashi blanched when literally _thousands_ of Narutos poofed into existence and preformed the basic seal for _henge_.

"_Harem no Jutsu!"_

The Jounin's visible eye popped when he was suddenly surrounded by nearly naked girls, all of them throwing themselves at him in a dogpile formation.

He didn't notice when one of the _henged_ clones grabbed the bells, or when another grabbed his book, but suddenly they all became Narutos again and a voice from what seemed to be quite far away shouted.

"Sasuke! _Now!_"

And a massive fireball blew the clones away, showing Naruto and Sasuke, perfectly fine, vanishing is Sakura's direction.

Kakashi got over his shock at having been molested by female Narutos and followed, arriving just in time to see a puff of smoke between the two bells in Naruto's hands.

There was a third bell, the only difference being the faint chakra sense about the obviously _henged_ object.

Naruto set the bells in front of him and started flashing through handseals that Kakashi hadn't seen before--and the chakra sense vanished.

Naruto snatched up the bells, turned his back, and shuffled them with quite a bit of soft ringing, then handed one to Sasuke, one to Sakura, and kept the third.

Kakashi stared--how the _hell_ had he done that?

With no way to tell which was false, Kakashi had no choice but to pass all three--a perfect example of teamwork between the boys having allowed the Gennin to gather their objective… even if Naruto had used a _jutsu_ that by all rights should be illegal.

"You all… pass." Kakashi eye-smiled, and turned his attention to Naruto, "What did you use for the third bell? I could have simply failed you all for attempting to deceive a teacher."

"Ah-ah-ah, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto waggled a finger admonishingly, "Check your pockets!"

Puzzled, he did as he was told… and came up one perverted novel short.

His visible eye widened. "You didn't."

"Yup!" Naruto chirped cheerily, "I figured you'd be willing to pass whoever held the book just so Sasuke wouldn't torch it!"

Three too-fast-to-follow handseals later, and Naruto was throwing the book at Kakashi--when the Jounin caught it, his hair poofed back to its original color.

"Fixed you hair, just like I promised, sensei!"

Kakashi blinked, then sighed. "Get some rest. You'll have your first real mission tomorrow."

Naruto didn't jump for joy as both Kakashi and Sakura expected, instead heaving a sigh and flopping back onto the ground. "How troublesome…" he muttered, too low for those further away to hear.

Sasuke walked into Naruto's field of vision, raising an eyebrow. "You're acting like Shikamaru."

There was a brief pause before Naruto jumped up, sputtering indignantly, then sighed again, rubbing the back of his head. "I kinda did, huh?"

"Hn."

"Ah, well, I've got to get going, now," Kakashi waved, "Meet me on the bridge at seven!" He vanished in a swirl of leaves.

_xxxx_

"What is going on, Naruto?" Sasuke hissed as soon as Sakura was out of earshot.

"Not here," Naruto growled right back, "Come on."

Sasuke blinked at the suddenly empty space beside him before channeling chakra into his feet and following Naruto into the forest.

As soon as they stopped, Sasuke folded his arms, "Spill."

Naruto shifted, then sighed. "The fox can explain better than I can. Genjutsu me."

Sasuke eyed him warily, but did as he was told, meeting Naruto and Kyuubi in a mindscape of their collective making.

_xxxx_

"Yeah, right. Kakashi never passes _anyone._" The Chuunin who said that was part of the group waiting for the students that passed to be announced.

"Hey, let him bet on that," one of the others said, waving at the skeptic. "It's easy money for the rest of us."

Iruka frowned. He'd seen the Hokage's records and knew what they said was true, but he refused to take back his bet. "I believe that Team 7 has a chance."

Kurenai appeared in a swirl of leaves, grinning broadly. "My team passes!" She sounded quite proud of that fact.

"Hey, you're the second one to pass a team!" One of the betting Chuunin turned to another, "Pay up."

Before Kurenai even got the chance to leave after the Hokage marked down the pass, Kakashi appeared, looking slightly disheveled, though his hair no longer sported neon colors.

Kurenai blinked at him. "Kakashi? What happened to _you?_"

Kakashi dropped into the nearest chair, "Naruto _said_ he fixed my hair… did he do something else that I haven't seen yet?"

Iruka snickered.

"No," Kurenai eyed him oddly, "I mean… you look beat."

Kakashi closed his eye and gave a long-suffering sigh. "I _am_ beat. Not only did Naruto and Sasuke work together, I was swarmed by over a thousand--and I am _not_ exaggerating--"he glared at one of the disbelieving Chuunins, "Narutos… _henged_ into _naked females_… then Sasuke _katon_ed the whole lot of them the instant they dropped the _henge_--_with_ me in the middle. Not only did Naruto get the bells, he _picked my pocket_ and _henged_ a _book_ into a perfect replica of the bell and _somehow_ managed to hide the chakra signature on it so I couldn't tell the difference, just to make sure that all three of them passed together!"

It took several moments for the last part of his woeful tale to get through.

"They _passed?_"

Kakashi eye-smiled and used his 'happy voice'. "Yup! A wonderful display of loyalty to comrades and ingenious use of horrible _jutsus._"

Kurenai glared, "Tell me you didn't pass them because of Naruto's pervert-_jutsu._"

Kakashi shuddered, "_No._ With all due respect, Hokage-sama… I think you should ban that _jutsu_."

The Sandaime puffed on his pipe, trying very hard to conceal his amusement at Kakashi's expense as he marked down Team 7 as 'pass'.

_xxxx_

"Wait. You're telling me that all the chakra we have in the future… came back with us, and is now merging with what we have now?"

The fox nodded at the tiny human that stood before him, slightly amused by his repeating of the obvious, then turned his attention back to his 'host'. **"Can I go, now?"**

Naruto nodded, shrugging slightly, and the Genjutsu dissipated, leaving Naruto and Sasuke standing in the woods.

Sasuke was frowning.

Not that Sasuke frowning was an unusual expression, but _this_ frown said that something big was bothering the black-haired ANBU Captain.

"Sasuke?"

"From what I understand about the _biju_," he said slowly, "Each additional tail is a mark of the combined chakra potential of all the tails before. Which means a two-tail is twice as strong as a one-tail, but a three-tail is twice as strong as a two-tail, correct?"

"Yeah… so?" Naruto was missing the point.

"So, dobe, your furball just doubled his power--he's becoming a _ten-tail_, right?"

Naruto nodded again, "And?"

"Will the seal still hold?"

"According to him, yes. He wasn't sure at first, but it was made without regard to power… a soul-sacrifice is irreversible because, no matter how strong a demon gets, they can't match up with gods."

Sasuke relaxed marginally, then paused.

"Gaara."

"What about Gaara?"

"Didn't Gaara say that the extra seal we put on his tanuki would need to be redone?"

That comment got Naruto's attention, fast, "Kuso!" he spat, "The two-point seal could barely hold back a one-tail!"

"And now Shukaku's got two."

_xxxx_

_So… I'm leaving off here, for a while. Not sure how long of a while, it depends on how long it takes to finish the last of my homework and whether or not I get more. Could be a day, could be a week. Bye!_


	5. Raging Tanuki

_Raging Tanuki_

"This is bad, this is very, very bad…"

"You _think_, dobe? We have to do something before that damn sand-demon gets its full power back!" Sasuke growled at nothing, "Can you teleport us there?"

Naruto frowned, "If Kyuubi helps, maybe… and we need to be back before nine tomorrow. But if I use the fox's chakra, the whole village will sense it and come looking."

"What if you put your chakra-hiding _jutsu_ on it?"

Blue flicked towards black, "I can try… I'll use Kyuubi's chakra to get us there, and we can use ours to get back. I'll make a… path… that we can follow back."

Sasuke gave a sharp nod, "Whatever you do, do it fast. There's no telling how much trouble a two-tail can cause."

"Right. Grab on." Naruto's eyes closed and he began to work his way through a complex set of handseals before pausing and starting a second set.

There was a jerk, a sense of _folding_, and they were on the outskirts of the Hidden Village of Sand. There was half a second to get their bearings before they recognized the raging chakra from within, panicked shouts echoing over the walls.

They didn't even have to look at each other--they _knew._

_xxxx_

The sand around Gaara's form was taking on the shape of the tanuki, covering over half of his face and body. He fought for control, but Shukaku was stronger than he'd remembered, far stronger, and he wanted _blood_ and he wanted it _now._

Sand reached out to wrap around the nearest people--Kankuro and Temari.

_No, damn you, Shukaku--I said _no!

The demon cackled in his mind and Gaara threw everything he had into wresting back control, forcing the sand back just enough for his siblings to break free--"Kankuro, Temari, run!"

They stared at their transforming brother in shock, not moving.

"Fools! Shukaku's breaking free! _Run!_"

Gaara cried out as the demon surged forward, reveling in the power of a second tail forming, sand rising in a cresting wave and crashing towards the two stunned Sand Gennin.

"_Katon: Goukoryuu no Jutsu!_" A familiar voice rang out over the hiss of sand and a massive fireball intercepted the deadly wave, melting demon-controlled sand into bubbling glass.

Two figures dropped down in front of the terrified Sand-siblings, blocking off the enraged tanuki.

"Sasuke, cover them! I'll deal with Shukaku!"

The orange figure blurred around melted sand, landing in front of the half-formed tanuki and running through swift handseals. _Fox, I'm going to need some help on this one!_

_**You got it, kit.**_

Demonic chakra mixed with clean blue, changing the blaze of a three-point seal to purple, then Naruto launched forward.

Gaara knew what the other Kage was thinking and wrested back control for one crucial second for the seal to be placed.

Sand sloughed off his form, landing in a shifting pile at his feet.

"Naruto. What was that about?"

"Sorry 'bout that, Gaara," Naruto rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "Fuzzy says that out past and present chakra merged, so… as soon as your completely depleted future amount starts building back up… you get the idea. So Shukaku is a two-tail and Kyuu-chan" the fox snarled indignantly in the back of Naruto's head, "is a ten-tail."

He sighed, "But because _you_ just had that pathetic two-point seal, a two-tail would be able to bust loose if you weren't so stubborn. So… I added another three point, instead of a two-point. That should keep the psycho under control."

Gaara nodded slightly. "Thank you."

Sasuke picked his way around still-bubbling glass, "Kankuro and Temari are fine," he shifted his attention to Naruto, "We have to get back before anyone realizes we're gone."

Naruto nodded, "I'll leave you to deal with the rest, then," he informed Gaara, falling back into what Sasuke privately referred to as 'Hokage mode'. "I don't want to explain our presence… and see if you can convince those two to keep quiet about this."

Gaara gave another nod, clearly dismissing them.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances and started gathering chakra--a lot of it--then teleported back to the forest outside Hidden Leaf.

_xxxx_

"That wasn't so bad," Naruto commented, staring up at the sky from where he was lying flat on his back.

Sasuke snorted, sitting up slowly. "I didn't expect the fox's chakra to make so much of a difference… it was a lot harder coming back."

Naruto growled slightly, "Easy for you to say, teme… I had to control it for the both of us!"

"Are you saying I'm bad at it, dobe?"

"Aw, is Sasuke-teme grumpy?"

Sasuke glared at Naruto, who seemed completely oblivious. "Dobe."

Naruto sniggered at his tone, "That's what Fuzzy calls you, you know."

Black eyes reflected confusion with the sudden topic change, "What?"

"Fuzzy. He calls you 'Grumpy'." Naruto continued, seemingly unaware of Sasuke's affronted expression, "I told him he should call you something with more flair, like… Emo-chan or something."

"Dobe!" Sasuke flung a shuriken at the blond, who didn't dodge.

Considering he was lying flat on his back and was pretty tired, it would have been awkward to dodge anyway.

The four-pointed star dug into Naruto's shoulder and he pulled it out, looking at it passively before tossing it back. "Play nice, Sasuke…"

Sasuke cringed, "Let me see," he offered, starting a basic healing _jutsu_.

Naruto didn't protest, closing his eyes and waiting. He was just so _tired_…

He never noticed when he fell asleep.

Sasuke sat back, allowing the _jutsu_ to dissipate, and listened to his friend's soft breathing. He shook his head, "You're such an idiot… Naruto."

_xxxx_

Sasuke jerked out of his light doze and looked around--a forest. His hand tightened over a kunai as he tried to figure out what had woken him--an enemy?

Harsh breathing from off to the side, familiar chakra flaring--Naruto! From his breathing, either injured or exhausted--too dark to see.

_Sharingan!_ Three tomoes whirled into suddenly blood-red eyes, improving Sasuke's vision enough for him to see properly in the nearly nonexistent light--there.

It was Naruto, all right, but a younger version than he'd expected, then it clicked. _Right. We're in the past._

He put the kunai away--there wasn't a war going on, yet--and approached his idiot friend, "Naruto," he reached out towards the blond's shoulder, intending to shake him--and Naruto jerked up with a strangled gasp, sweat beading on his face and blue eyes sporting slit pupils that cast back the light like a cat's.

Before Sasuke could even blink, Sharingan or not, he had a kunai pressed against his throat.

There was silence for a moment while Naruto blinked and shook his head, drawing back. "Sasuke," he managed before falling back to a sitting position.

"Nightmare?"

Glowing blue flicked towards twirling red, then away.

"What about?"

The glow vanished as Naruto closed his eyes, leaning against a tree-trunk. "The usual… blood, death, friends getting ripped to pieces before my eyes, giant demon snakes…"

Sasuke settled back, "Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

Naruto sighed, the sound so weary that Sasuke felt the concern he'd been harboring inch towards worry. "Naruto?"

"Iruka-sensei."

Sasuke flinched. "I'm sorry," he offered quietly.

Naruto straitened, shaking off the cloud of depression like a dog shook off water, leaving only mild sadness behind. "It doesn't have to be that way. This time, it won't."

Sasuke nodded. He knew Iruka's death had weighed heavily on the young Hokage, but Naruto had never had the chance to properly mourn--and that death had been a bloody one. One Naruto had witnessed.

"We _will_ set this right," he said softly, keeping his Sharingan activated if only for the chakra drain. "Come on. My house is closest."

_xxxx_

_I made up the bit about a two-point seal. Hope nobody minds… if you do, and know the _actual_ seal used on Gaara, feel free to tell me and I can go back and fix it. It's not going to make any difference in the story…_


	6. Missions,,, How Troublesome

_Missions… How Troublesome_

Sasuke ignored his temporary houseguest as he set about making breakfast, absently checking that there would be enough for both of them. Naruto, in turn, wandered around, exploring various rooms to see if anything had changed.

He was fully awake, though he'd woken not long before, something that he'd never managed during his first set of Gennin years. Naruto sighed, a weary sort of sound that had nothing to do with sleepiness, and decided to poke around the weapons vault.

Nothing much had changed there, either, although some of the weapons were ones later missing or destroyed and others that had been made as replacements had not yet been added.

"Oi, dobe!"

So much for wandering around being depressed.

"Breakfast! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming…" Naruto picked up his pace as he made his way back to the kitchen.

The first several minutes of breakfast passed in silence, Sasuke surreptitiously eyeing the blond, looking for any after-effects from last night's terrors. "Naruto…" he said finally, setting his chopsticks aside, "Are you all right?"

Naruto looked up, swallowed, and sat back. "Ano… iie, not really," he admitted. He'd learned years ago that Sasuke would worry at the subject like Akamaru over a favorite bone until he got an honest answer.

Damn Uchihas and their built-in lie detectors.

Sasuke waited. _He'd_ learned years ago that the more he asked once Naruto got started, the less Naruto would tell. The blond found ways to answer the questions while dancing around the real subject.

"It was probably just seeing Iruka-sensei on top of Shukaku almost getting loose…"

"Flashbacks." Not a question.

"Aa."

Sasuke understood. He'd gotten a few himself, but not nearly as bad as Naruto's… Sasuke had been ANBU, sent on missions outside the village. That's where his worst memories lay.

Naruto… Naruto had been Hokage, had fought for his people's lives even as friends died and the village he tried so hard to protect burned around him. Sasuke didn't doubt that every corner turned held the echoes of children's screams.

"It's not going to happen, Naruto. Not this time."

They returned to eating silently and cleared the dishes.

"Just put them in the sink. I'll wash them later."

Dishes clinked as Naruto put them in the sink, then both headed for the door.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

Black flicked over to meet blue.

"Thanks."

_xxxx_

Neither of them was sure why they'd bothered to be on time; it's not like _Kakashi_ was going to show up for another two hours anyway. Even _if_ he did have a legitimate reason for being late all the time, it was _annoying_.

That was a pretty big 'if'.

Sakura was waiting at the bridge when they arrived, which surprised neither of them, so they decided they might as well get started without the silver-haired cyclops. (Naruto's wording.)

Sasuke was the less suspicious of the two to be showing her _jutsus_--he _was_ hailed as a genius--but he and Naruto agreed that Sakura should get the hang of chakra control exercises, first. With her already decent control, it shouldn't take long… and they needed to help her build up her reserves a bit before Sasuke could show her the few healing _jutsus_ he knew.

"Sakura, you're just not a fighter," Sasuke said calmly, trying for gentle and missing.

She looked shocked, then hurt.

Sasuke sighed, running a hand through black locks, and closed his eyes, "Naruto…"

"What he _means,_ Sakura-chan, is you're more of a controlled chakra type person than a… blow things up with powerful, destructive _jutsus_ type of person."

"Right," Sasuke straitened up, "Listen, a good team can't be all about offense, anyway. Sooner or later, one of us is going to get hurt, and we'll need a healer right then and there. You have good control; learn to use it. I know a few simple healing _jutsus_, but I'm not very good at them… I think you'd be a lot better."

She perked up a bit at the insinuation that she could be a valuable part of the team without being good at fighting. "So, I could be… team healer?"

Sasuke nodded, "That's the idea. First, though, you're going to have to learn the rest of the chakra control exercises. After the way you learned tree-climbing, it shouldn't take you long."

Neither of the boys was surprised when she immediately got fired up to learn. She'd do _anything_ to impress 'her Sasuke-kun' at this stage.

Which was why they'd decided he should be the one to approach her with this. She would have ignored Naruto.

"All right. Let's work on water-walking after our missions for today. For now, just go up and down that tree as many times as you can at a _walk._ It will help you build up some more stamina, which you'll need eventually."

"Hai!" Sakura walked over to the tree and started doing her Sasuke-assigned 'laps' while Sasuke and Naruto sparred lightly.

'Lightly' being a relative term. Considering their Gennin status, it _looked_ like they were trying to kill each other.

Kunai clashed and screeched against each other, the boys striking, blocking, and dodging in moves so fast and precise that it almost looked as though the fight had been planned.

They'd gone against each other so many times it almost had been--then Sasuke smirked.

Naruto saw the other boy's hand raise, pressing thumb and forefinger against his lips--

"Oh s--"

Fireballs shot across the small clearing and Naruto was hard-pressed to dodge them all, using a last-ditch wind-blade to slice the last one in half, the disrupted chakra dissipating before it could do any real damage.

It was Sasuke's turn to get alarmed when Naruto just… vanished. The next thing he knew, there was a kunai against his throat.

He shook Naruto off, "Naruto… how the hell did you _do_ that?"

The blond jumped away, holstering his weapon, "Nuh-uh. That'd be _telling._"

"Dobe."

"Teme!"

Sasuke grunted and glanced at Sakura, who'd stopped doing the tree-climbing to stare at the mock-battle between her teammates, completely ignoring the sense he got from the trees to the left that Kakashi had finally arrived.

"Come back down, Sakura," he sighed, "Kakashi's here."

She hopped out of the tree, looking around in confusion, "Where?"

Naruto pointed, "Over there. You can come out now, Kakashi-sensei."

_xxxx_

Kakashi had, of course, heard the screeching of steel from the direction his team was supposed to be waiting in and gone to investigate.

Whatever he expected, it was not what he had found--Sakura standing sideways on a tree watching the two boys spar with kunai in hand.

He stared, catching the slight falter in their seemingly choreographed motions as azure and onyx flicked in his direction before settling back into their deadly dance. He'd never seen Gennin that good.

He watched in amazement at the flash of phoenix-fireballs, the last forcibly dissipated in a way he couldn't see without his Sharingan, then Naruto was behind Sasuke, kunai pressed to the paler boy's throat.

Sasuke seemed more irritated than worried at the bit of deadly steel and didn't seem overly surprised that he'd been beaten--rather _how._

As Kakashi sat pondering in his tree, his name came up among his Gennin, drawing his attention back to them.

He'd been caught… how?

He came out of his tree, rubbing the back of his head.

"You're late!" Sakura yelled, pointing at him accusingly, "Maa, maa, I got sidetracked because this little old lady--"

"Cut the crap, _Sensei_," Naruto spat, catching the others--including Sasuke--completely off guard.

"Dobe--"

Ruby-flecked azure silenced Sasuke. "Either show up when you say you will or tell us when you're _really_ going to come. You're a shinobi. Act like one. Lateness can get you or your teammates killed and I will _not_ tolerate it. Is that understood?"

Kakashi stared.

"I said, _is that understood_, Falcon?"

Sasuke winced, remembering why Naruto found this such a sore point… and after last night… Naruto was in full Hokage-mode, furious and expecting his orders to be followed the first time they were given. What with Naruto's nightmares… Kakashi _had_ been late one time too many and his team had suffered losses.

Not anyone they were close to, thank the kami for small mercies, but people that Naruto was responsible for… Kakashi hadn't been late again after that. He'd felt just as guilty at the Rokudaime for the deaths of two of the three under his command.

"H-hai," Kakashi's voice shook. How the _hell_ had Naruto known his ANBU designation?

_xxxx_

It took several minutes before Kakashi calmed enough to decide to question later--although he wasn't sure he could hold up under the tone that Naruto had taken. Sarutobi at his best couldn't pull _that_ off.

"On to… your first mission!" Kakashi eye-smiled, attempting to hide his inner turmoil, "Operation 'Walk the Dog'!"

"I hate D-ranks," Naruto muttered to Sasuke, who nodded.

"At least we can get some kind of payment for them," he murmured back.

"I am _not_ going back into that mine field."

Sasuke smirked.

_xxxx_

Sasuke took Sakura off to teach her water-walking while Kakashi cornered Naruto.

Naruto lay on his back in the soft grass beneath a silver-barked cherry tree, completely ignoring the fact that Kakashi was on the hill right next to him, staring up at the sky and frowning.

"Naruto," Kakashi broke the silence, voice stern.

"You want to know how I knew you ANBU designation," Naruto stated, "And why I was so angry and where Sasuke and I learned to spar like that. Unless or until you start treating us like the team you're supposed to promote and prove to me that I can trust you, I'm not going to tell you. Ibiki couldn't get it out of me."

Well, there went that idea.

"Naruto," his voice held a hint of irritation, "I am your instructor and you commanding officer. If you won't tell me, how am I supposed to trust you?"

Naruto sat up, glaring, "And how am I supposed to trust _you?_ You hate me--don't deny it. You _still_ think that I'm somehow responsible for the death of you precious sensei, never mind the fact that I didn't ask for any of this. Hell, even if I _were_ the fox, it wouldn't be my fault that he used a suicidal sealing ritual. There were other ways to bind a demon than the one he chose--and he did _choose_ it."

Kakashi blinked and took a half-step back. That tone was something between rage and resignation--

"I don't _hate_ you, Naruto… I just…"

"All I am is a reminder of what you've lost," Naruto said bitterly. "How could you _not_ hate me?"

Kakashi hesitated, taken aback. "Naruto--I--"

"Forget it, Kakashi-sensei. You've only known me for a few days…" he sighed, shaking golden spikes away from his eyes, "And if you ever learn to trust me… I'll tell you everything."

_But not before._ The comment hung in the air, unspoken.

Kakashi felt guilty enough that he let the subject drop, and Team 7 returned to daily doses of dogwalking, cat-finding, weeding, and community-service style missions.

_xxxx_

_So, that's not the best ending in the world, but adding more just made it worse. So… yes. Anyway, I've got a little bit of thought that needs to go into the next chapter… and, while I've had plenty of time this weekend, Wednesday on will be an entirely different matter. I'll try to keep up on weekends. I have school Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, so I may get mid-week postings on Tuesdays, but I make no promises._


	7. The C class

_The C-class_

During the many D-ranks Team 7 was put through, Kakashi found himself watching Naruto more and more closely. The boy was hiding something--he'd said as much--but it was virtually impossible to find out what.

During his many instances of watching the blond during missions, he came to realize that it wasn't only Naruto who knew more than he should. Sasuke would say things--little things, to be sure--that Kakashi _knew_ he'd never told anyone… at least, no one who would have passed on that information.

Kakashi took to trailing the Gennin, keeping a cursory eye on Sakura when she got extra training from the two boys, but otherwise focusing on Naruto. It was difficult to escape the blue-eyed blond's strangely high detection skills, but he found that, with the right distance and chakra-enhanced hearing, he could gather a decent amount of information without being spotted… although he couldn't get close enough to watch the boy's visual cues.

He'd followed Naruto and Sasuke to the top of the Hokage monument, and listened.

_xxxx_

"Ne, Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly, staring up at a star-speckled sky, "Do you think that we'll ever be able to tell Kakashi the truth?"

Sasuke rolled onto his side and eyed his friend for a moment, "I know you hate having to lie to him, Naruto, but… even _if_ he believed us… he would never stand by and let us do what needs to be done. He sees us as children, still…"

Naruto sat up and stared down over Konoha. "It looks so peaceful," his voice was wistful as he stared down at the glittering lights… "So… alive." The lights seemed to blur, shifting to leftover fires in ruined buildings.

The signs were there for one who could recognize them--the tone of voice, the dull cast seeping into azure, dimming it towards navy, the slump of his shoulders--"Naruto!"

Sasuke jerked upright, reaching for the blond, "Snap out of it!"

At his touch, Naruto stiffened, drawing in a shaky breath. "Sorry."

"Pull yourself together, Naruto. Why do we lie to Kakashi?"

There was a long pause, "Because it's the only way to prevent what comes and ensure Konoha's survival."

"And we will continue to lie to him until he's ready to handle the truth. Just as we will continue to lie to Sakura and all our other friends, just as you will continue to hide everything you know from Sarutobi. You _know_ the consequences of meddling too much, too soon. Their plans will change and we won't be able to stop them."

"I want to save Oji-san," Naruto whispered brokenly.

Sasuke hesitated for a long moment before pulling his friend into a hug, "I know."

But that was one thing that they'd both agreed couldn't be done… not if Orochimaru attacked during the last exam, anyway. If the Snake-sannin pulled it off… the village would need Tsunade to hold it together.

_xxxx_

Even with chakra-enhanced hearing, Kakashi could hardly make out any of what was being said, at least until Sasuke's voice raised in alarm, but what he did manage to make out was that the two boys were hiding things from him out of what they believed to be necessity, not choice.

Well, that ruled out the possibility of Naruto having been taken over by a demon fox.

So. He did manage to hear that they wouldn't tell him anything until they thought he trusted them… he supposed that meant he had to stop following them everywhere. He _did_ have a tendency to get spotted far too often for his liking. He was glad he'd chosen the distance he had, this time, even if he could only make out the louder parts of their conversation, because at least he knew how to eventually get them to talk.

He sighed as he left; this was going to take actual effort.

_xxxx_

After a few more days, it became clear that the boys had noticed the lack of his presence around them at times other than missions or training. He didn't realize that they'd taken to actively _looking_ for him after he'd stopped following them just to check that he'd really stopped and wasn't just getting better at hiding.

He did notice the appraising looks being sent in his direction.

He also noticed that his team, including Sakura, was getting frustrated at the continuous D-rank missions, so, after yet another round of capture-the-runaway-cat, it didn't surprise him when Naruto asked for a C-rank.

It _did_ surprise him that both Sasuke and Sakura backed up their teammate and it surprised him even more that he found himself _agreeing_ with them.

Under the requests (demands in some cases) of all four of the Team 7 group, the Sandaime gave in and assigned a C-rank… escort and guard mission on behalf of one Tazuna, a bridge-builder from Wave country, which had no shinobi of its own.

Kakashi noted that neither Sasuke nor Naruto were surprised and there was actual recognition in their eyes as they watched the man come in. There was something, a half-formed suspicion in the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was…

"What!? I asked for guards and you give me a bunch of kids?" The man waved his sake bottle, "They look like wimps! Especially that short gaki!"

Kakashi winced, anticipating an outburst from the occasionally volatile blond--but the expected threats came from a different source.

Tazuna found his sake-bottle smashed from his hand and a kunai at his throat before he could so much as blink, a low, deadly voice right beside his ear, "Insult Naruto again… and I _will_ _hurt_ _you_, hired to protect you or no."

Kakashi's visible eye was wide as he stared and Iruka and Sarutobi gaped openly, even more so when Naruto laid a hand on Sasuke's arm, hissing something that even Tazuna, less than two inches from Sasuke, couldn't make out.

Blue met black, then Sasuke let go of Tazuna, backing off with a short nod. "Hai."

The Chuunin behind the desk exchanged puzzled glances while Iruka and the Sandaime both stared at the two boys, unable to reconcile what just happened with their knowledge of the two's rivalry.

Iruka recovered first, shaking his head, "What was _that_ about?"

Sasuke spared a hard glance for their former teacher, "You, of all people, should know, Iruka-sensei." _At least part._

Iruka thought about the scene at the academy on their first day as Gennin, and nodded slowly. "I didn't realize your friendship had progressed so far."

Onyx met brown, then flicked towards the future Hokage, "He… very likely saved my life." _My soul… nearly at the cost of his own life._ "I owe him."

Kakashi blinked, frowning behind his mask as those others who knew the boys in their Academy days seemed thoughtfully accepting.

Sarutobi finally broke the silence. "You'll be leaving tomorrow at nine. Dismissed."

Kakashi led his team out of the room, and, as soon as the door closed behind them, Naruto turned to his sometime rival and best friend, "You didn't have to do that, you know."

Black remained staring fixedly ahead as they walked. "Yes, I did."

_xxxx_

On the road, Sasuke and Naruto dropped behind everyone else, apparently bickering about something. Kakashi couldn't help but up his hearing with a bit of chakra and listen in.

"I know _that,_ dobe. But what about our chakra levels? We can't just throw out a lot of chakra-eating _jutsus_ every night like usual…"

Like usual? Why would they try to wear out their chakra every night?

"I guess we let our levels build up and see how much we can handle… if worse comes to worst, we tell Kakashi."

Somehow, that wasn't very reassuring to the silver-haired Jounin.

"That's dangerous… he'll want to be with us for that. You know how he worries."

_I worry?_ Kakashi wondered. Why would he worry?

"You think Kakashi can't handle himself?"

"In the face of a chakra overload when it's you and your _insanely_ high output? _Kyuubi_ couldn't handle that!"

Kakashi risked a backwards glance and saw Naruto had stopped, a thoughtful look on his face.

"You know… that's an idea…"

Sasuke half-spun, "Oh, hell, no! That'd be _suicide,_ even for you!"

Kakashi decided Sasuke was right. He _was_ getting worried.

"It'd take care of your brother, though."

Sasuke snarled audibly, "Stay away from him, Naruto. He's dangerous."

"Gee, ya think?" the sarcasm was so thick you could practically smell it.

"Dobe."

"Uh, huh, way to show respect."

It never ceased to amaze how that one bounced moods and dragged whoever he was talking to right with him.

"Forgive me, oh almighty Hokage-to-be. I hope Gaara feeds you to his sand."

Kakashi's half-formed worries were taking on more definite shape, mainly for his student's physical health this time, but he had to wonder who Gaara was.

"Aw, I love you, too, teme."

Sasuke growled, but the sound didn't hold much malice. "Dobe…"

"You know you'd miss me…"

"Argh! You're hopeless!"

Kakashi snuck another glance back to see Sasuke throwing his hands up in the air in a gesture of pure exasperation, something he never thought he'd see from the icy Uchiha.

Naruto's grin rivaled Guy's smiles, "And that's why you love me, otouto!"

There was a long silence from behind. Then: "Naruto?"

"Hm?"

"I'm older."

"Teme!"

_xxxx_

_Hm… alright. Check my profile for update times under the 'For Readers' section. I'm going to school._


	8. Of Men and Demons

_Of Men and Demons_

Sasuke noted the puddles first, as he had gone up ahead, and he glanced back over his shoulder to make sure Naruto had as well.

The blond dropped back to walk near Kakashi, acting perfectly innocent… which immediately put the Jounin on edge.

Naruto only got _that_ look when he was going to prank someone--but Kakashi wasn't so distracted as to not notice two puddles lying in an otherwise completely dry road on a hot day… during a week that had had no rain.

Naruto paused near one of the puddles to wait for Kakashi to catch up to him, then pounced.

Water splashed outwards, splattering across the Jounin's clothes--and everything burst into motion. Two ninja leapt from the puddles, a long chain stretched between them--

Naruto intercepted one of the two, Sasuke materializing beside him as if he'd been there all along while Kakashi, realizing he wouldn't get to see who these two were after by holding back at this rate, took on the second and Sakura planted herself between the fight and Tazuna.

Then one brother was down and the other's steel claw was headed straight for Kakashi and his dodge was to shallow to avoid the hit completely--

Then Naruto was there, blocking as best he could with a twelve-year-old's strength and accepting the bite of steel in his side as Sasuke's kunai materialized in the attacking ninja's throat.

For a moment, there was silence, Kakashi stood stunned and Sasuke seemed caught between horror and fury, Sakura and Tazuna hadn't had _time_ to do or think anything--

"Dammit, Naruto!" and Sasuke lunged forward, supporting a slightly dazed teammate while Kakashi looked on in shock.

Naruto had just…

"What the hell were you thinking, you idiot!? You _knew_ that thing was poisoned!"

"Aa… Kakashi didn't." Naruto sounded oddly calm as he started to crumple against blue-clad arms.

_Poisoned_? Kakashi stepped forward, shaking off his confusion, "Let me see," he ordered, not sure whether it was directed at Naruto or Sasuke, who was easing the injured boy to the ground.

"I'll be fine," Naruto managed, sweat beading on his forehead as his face tightened with pain, "Just give me a few hours."

Sasuke winced. Hours, not minutes… he must have gotten a nasty dose.

Kakashi ignored the comment, tugging torn cloth aside to look at three still-bleeding gashes.

Deep, but not fatal… but the symptoms were troubling. "We have to get him back to Konoha," Kakashi stated, moving as though to lift the suddenly listless blond.

He was blocked, "No. Moving him will only make things worse and you of all people should know how he's treated…" Sasuke's eyes were as sharp as chips of obsidian… and as unforgiving.

"If he dies because of you and your foolish pride…" Sasuke knew he couldn't kill his teacher, not if Naruto died protecting him, but… "I will _castrate_ you."

The only part Kakashi heard was 'If he dies because of you'. It took the Jounin a few moments to realize he was shaking. _Why? Why would _Naruto?_ After everything…_ Kakashi couldn't understand how this boy could make the same choice as Obito with as little hesitation…

"Naruto--kuso--Naruto! Look at me, dobe, come on. That's it, just keep breathing…"

Kakashi shook himself out of his daze. They couldn't open up the wounds to drain the poison--they were deep enough that doing so risked puncturing a lung. But that much poison…

"I'll… be fine, teme…" Naruto didn't _sound_ fine… "Just… need some rest."

Black seemed darker than usual against a face pale with worry, "You're sure?"

"Aa…" Blue slipped closed, but ragged breathing continued.

Kakashi glanced back towards Sakura and their charge. "We'll camp here tonight."

_xxxx_

To Kakashi's surprise and relief, by morning Naruto _did_ seem substantially better. He tired quickly and his chakra was flaring oddly, but it seemed as though the poison was almost gone.

The blond waved off concern from both his teammates, giving a tired grin. "Maa, maa, I'm _fine._ Just tired."

"We can rest here another day, Naruto," Kakashi informed, coming over to the group of 'kids'. When he got close enough, he realized Sasuke's chakra was flaring, too, though to a lesser extent.

Kakashi frowned--not that anyone could see it behind his mask. Did this have something to do with what they'd said about 'chakra-eating _jutsus_'? "Sakura, you stay here with our client. I need to talk to these two…" with that, he grabbed both boys and dragged them off into the trees.

_xxxx_

"All right you two," Kakashi said sternly, "What is going on? I've _never_ felt chakra flare like that before without someone having overdosed on soldier pills."

Naruto glanced sideways, trusting Sasuke's judgment on how much to tell.

The black-haired boy sighed, then straightened up. "There was an… unexpected complication during a _jutsu_ Naruto came up with on the night after the academy's Gennin exams. He was… upset and not controlling his chakra as well as he might have. It more than doubled the amount of chakra our bodies produce, but our coils aren't developed enough to handle the strain, yet. We've been using up a lot every night with whatever _jutsus_ we know that require a lot of chakra and doing a lot of work on control."

"I've never heard of a _jutsu_ that could do that." Kakashi eyed the unusually verbose student, certain he was still hiding something and equally certain that he wouldn't tell. "And neither of you used up substantial amounts of chakra last night."

Sasuke nodded, casting a glance at his still-pale teammate, "But, even in his condition, Naruto's building up chakra faster than I am. He needs to use some of it soon, or it could escape his control and kill him. Not to mention everything else within at least three miles..."

Kakashi blinked. Naruto had _that _much more chakra than Sasuke Although, it didn't really surprise him, after the stunt with the clones… and Sasuke gave no sign that he'd even _heard_ the comment about the _jutsu._ He sighed. The kids' health had to come first, anyway.

"Well, get on with it."

Sasuke gave him an odd look, "And, even after we were attacked by the two targeting Tazuna last night, you're leaving Sakura alone with him for as long as this will take?"

Kakashi remembered the conversation of the day before… they didn't want him in range while deliberately super-powering _jutsus._ That… made an odd kind of sense. Besides, Sasuke was right.

"Just be careful… and _try_ not to burn the forest down."

Naruto waited until Kakashi was well and truly gone before plopping down to lean against a tree.

Sasuke approached somewhat cautiously, "Dobe?"

"Just a little tired, teme. Poison's gone, the fox is still working on the damage."

Sasuke nodded, "But you do need to burn off some of that extra chakra."

Naruto tilted his head, seemingly listening to something, then he got an odd look of consideration.

"Ne, Sasuke, come're. I'm gonna put a blood-seal on you."

Sasuke blinked, inwardly flinching at the idea of a seal of any kind, but this was _Naruto_, the one person who would never do anything with the intention of hurting him… and, technically, still his commander. "Where?"

"Back of your neck," Naruto bit a finger as Sasuke turned his back and knelt before him, holding his hair out of the way.

The seal was precise and oddly simple, two triangles inscribed in a circle around something that looked like a shepherd's staff, then Sasuke felt Naruto gathering large amounts of chakra and sensed the blond going through handseals--far fewer than he'd expected.

_xxxx_

Kakashi returned to the others, leaving the two Gennin to their own devices somewhat against his better judgment. But Naruto _had_ saved his life, _knowing_ that doing so could get him killed… and Naruto obviously trusted Sasuke.

Whenever he thought he'd figured out something about those two, they would toss something else into the equation that threw the whole thing off. So far, he'd come to three conclusions. One: Sasuke trusted Naruto. (and vice-versa) Two: Those two were hiding something big. Three: Naruto could rightly be considered a genius for his age, despite his Academy scores. His pranks were complex enough that Kakashi couldn't decipher them without his Sharingan, which he wasn't going to pull out for a color-changing _jutsu._ No matter how impressive it was.

He was forcibly drawn out of his musings when he felt a _massive_ amount of chakra being released--it felt like Naruto's, but the sheer volume of it was _impossible--_

He got back to the clearing in time to see Sasuke whirling to face Naruto, the back of his neck sporting a glow that melted into his skin without a trace, the blond half-collapsed against the base of a large oak.

Either they hadn't noticed him yet or they were ignoring him, but he'd take either if it would get him some answers.

Sasuke touched the back of his neck tenderly, "What's it for?"

"So you'll stop mother-henning me, teme. Mind link. It'll only activate if you think at _me_ or the world at large; you'll keep all other thoughts private. But I _can't_ lie through it, and neither can you… and you'll know if anything happens to me, so you can quit worrying all the time."

_Mind link!?_ That wasn't possible… the _jutsu_ and seal weren't complicated, but the amount of chakra needed to activate one of those would inevitably kill the one who cast it, and since it was only a two-way thing--caster and recipient, like anything blood-seal based--it was immediately rendered useless.

But that chakra… Naruto seemed to _still have some left_, but he'd used so much…

Right about then Naruto noticed his Jounin-sensei.

Kakashi figured he might as well speak up. "So… did it work?"

There was a pause, then Naruto's eyes widened in righteous indignation and he flung a kunai at Sasuke, "Teme!"

Sasuke smirked, captured kunai in hand.

Kakashi took that as a 'yes'.

_xxxx_

This time, he watched as Sasuke _kation_ed the sky, obeying the order not to light the forest on fire while burning off extra chakra, then he herded his two secretive and somewhat errant students back to where Sakura and Tazuna waited.

He didn't mention what was going on with the boys--Tazuna wouldn't understand and Sakura… had a tendency to speak before thinking. At least where Sasuke was involved.

After giving Naruto a final once-over (the idiot was still shaky, but insisted he was fit to travel, and Sasuke backed him up), Kakashi lead the group down the road, hoping to get the bridge-builder back to wave so they could get this assignment over with.

At first everything seemed uneventful, then they started nearing the water.

_Ne, Sasuke… isn't this about where that eyebrowless sword-freak showed up?_

Sasuke glanced back at Naruto, where he was currently trudging along near Kakashi--who noticed the look and tilted his head.

_Yes. You heard something in the bushes and someone switched out with a snow rabbit… then Zabuza attacked._

Naruto sighed aloud, bringing a look of exasperation to Kakashi's visible eye, and stumbled slightly.

_Naruto!_

_I'll be fine, teme. I'm still a little off, but it should be gone by tomorrow. _He seemed slightly sulky about it. _I don't think I'll be able to do much against Zabuza, though._

Sasuke snorted, _No kidding, dobe. I'll deal with it if Kakashi needs help, I promise._

_You realize that's going to turn Sakura into even _more_ of a fangirl… right?_

Sasuke groaned, _She's worse than _you _at this age._

_Sasuke… try not to kill either of them, please…_

Sasuke was so startled by the request that he spoke aloud. "Why? Naruto, what…?" he trailed off as a flurry of emotion washed over him, there but not his own.

"I'll do my best, Naruto."

The words were barely out of his mouth when Kakashi registered a presence very near and very hostile--he cursed himself for not paying enough attention to his surroundings, being absorbed in trying to decipher the boys' silent conversation.

"Down!"

He yanked Naruto with him and saw Sasuke drop into a forward roll--Sakura and Tazuna were out of range of the massive sword that slammed into a tree, a Mist-nin with a slashed haiye-ete and bandaged face landing atop it.

Naruto ignored the opening word-spars and glanced towards Sasuke.

_Oi, teme! Make it quick!_

Sasuke smirked and, when Kakashi unveiled his Sharingan, Sasuke activated his own, three tomoes whirling into each eye as they bled crimson.

"_Two_ Sharingan users!?"

Kakashi did a double take, noted that Sasuke had mastered his, and filed that under 'things to be asked about'.

The fight was short, halted by a rain of senbon that wasn't entirely unexpected by two of the Konoha shinobi.

"Let's get out of here," Sasuke bit out, his eyes remaining a deep red.

"Teme… lose the whirly-eyes."

Sasuke spared Naruto a glare, _I still need the chakra drain._

There was a slight pause. "Oh. Or not, that works, too."

Poor Kakashi had the distinct impression that he'd missed something. He wouldn't put it past Naruto to have done that mind-link just so the two could talk without anyone else knowing. Or maybe just to drive his teacher crazy. Or both.

It took the Copycat ninja until they reached the opposite shore after passing under the partially completed bridge to realize he hadn't pulled out his _"Icha Icha"_ book all day, being too occupied with his students and their secrets.

Which was why that missing nin almost landed that first hit.


	9. Truth

_Truth_

After they arrived at Tazuna's home and met his daughter and adopted grandson (and calmed the upset woman, after they were a day late), Kakashi decided enough was enough.

The mission had turned B-rank with the Demon Brothers, and was a solid A-rank with Zabuza involved. He could _not_ have his subordinates keeping secrets from him.

He excused himself and ordered the two boys to follow him.

_xxxx_

"I need to know what you two are capable of."

Naruto blinked at Kakashi. "Well, you're not beating around the bush today, are you?"

He received a killer-intent laced glare for his troubles, and Sasuke instantly moved between his Hokage and the perceived threat, hand dropping to his kunai pouch.

Naruto sighed, "Sasuke…"

Right about then Sasuke realized just who it was that he was thinking of as a threat and flushed, backing down.

_Flashbacks?_ Naruto asked silently.

A strange feeling flickered back through the mental connection and Naruto envisioned a grimace.

_I'll take that as a yes._

A trace of irritated assent brushed his mind and Naruto snorted aloud. "Even in your head you talk without words."

"Hn." Sasuke folded his arms and looked off to the side.

"See, that just proves my point, teme. And Kakashi's kinda got one, too." Naruto added as he saw the Jounin begin to shift slightly, indicating he wasn't going to tolerate their silence for long.

"This mission's obviously gone A-rank--and don't look at me like that, Uchiha, you know I'm right--and he'd have an easier time teaching us if he knew what we know, so he can help us with what we actually need help on, not what the average Gennin do." _I'll even let you decide how much to tell, 'K, teme?_

Sasuke thought that over while Kakashi waited with baited breath. Were they actually going to tell him something?

"…Fine."

Kakashi couldn't believe it--they really _were_ going to tell him something!

Sasuke turned to the silver-haired man, "Most of my _jutsu_ are highly destructive. I have a few defensive _jutsu_ such as Mud Wall and the standard ones taught to Academy students. My elemental affinity is Lightning and I can perform approximately four _chidori _ a day at my current level. I have mastered the basic form of the Sharingan. My main Taijutsu style is 'Dance of the Snake', with additional forms from Gai, the Hyuuga's 'Gentle Fist', and Naruto's original bar-fight style." Here he ignored an indignant outburst from the blond, "I am competent with Genjutsu and my Kenjutsu is terrible." He glanced over at Naruto, _Keep quiet. I'll tell yours, too._

"I say that most of my _jutsu_ are highly destructive, but Naruto definitely outdoes me when it comes to mass destruction. He has completely mastered _kage bunshin_ and is adept at the exploding clone technique. As he can amass roughly one thousand clones at his current level, the results can be devastating. When not having his clones explode in people's faces, he can have them perform advanced _jutsu_ themselves--anything from his arsenal, which I don't think even he knows the extent of. He generally sticks to wind and shadow techniques--his element affinity is wind--but he has an annoying habit of combining techniques or creating things never seen before. He can combine the _rasengan_ and _chidori_ to devastating effects and knows more about seals than I think is healthy."

"What's wrong with seals?"

"Considering your furry friend, it's not healthy."

"Kyuu-chan isn't going to--" Naruto winced, raising a hand to his temple, but continued, "Do anything… aside from yell at me for the nickname--hey! If you're gonna call me _that,_ I'm gonna call you Kyuu-chan. Besides," he returned his attention to Sasuke, "The more I know about seals, the better I can deal with my own should something go wrong when Ero-sennin isn't around."

"Hn."

Kakashi was still trying to sort through all the information he'd been given and was coming to the conclusion that all of it was completely impossible. He'd never taught _anyone_ the _chidori_, and not even written down how it was formed. And only Jiraiya knew the _rasengan_…

"How?"

"Huh?" Startlingly blue eyes flashed in Kakashi's direction.

"We, essentially, returned to a point in our lived before which certain things happened that ultimately led to the destruction of Konoha. As it is not possible to move matter through time, we sent our spirits and chakra back through an immensely powerful _jutsu,_ and said spirits and chakra attached to the things that were most similar to our former bodies--namely, our twelve-year-old selves, where future and present merged."

Kakashi spent about six minutes processing what Sasuke had said while Naruto fumed, not quite able to believe the paranoid ANBU Captain had just done that.

"Is that what you were talking about… the _jutsu_ on the night after the Academy Gennin exams?"

"Aa."

Kakashi sat down, not quite collapsing, and frowned. "Tell me everything."

_xxxx_

They hadn't, but they'd at least explained why not--messing with the timeline too much would change things… and they wouldn't be able to predict the one thing which they had to stop. Whatever that was--they wouldn't tell him anything beyond 'it will lead to Konoha's destruction if we do not prevent it.'

Kakashi sighed, staring at the ceiling as he went through everything they'd said--not a single discrepancy, nothing that said they were making this up. It was true. His students were two years older than he was, for kami's sake!

That was disturbing.

Kakashi sighed again; he was avoiding the real problems. If the Rokudaime Hokage and the Special Forces ANBU Captain had been so desperate as to attempt a suicidal, _theoretical_ time-traveling _jutsu_ to set things right--and with the aid of the Kazekage, apparently… things must have gotten pretty darn bad.

No wonder those two kept going silent at odd times--from the sound of it, they were having flashbacks.

Kakashi sat up, giving up on the idea of sleeping for the night, and frowned at the wall. The flashbacks could prove a problem, potentially a serious one… a distraction at the wrong moment could jeopardize everything. But what would usually be advised--a counselor used to dealing with either ANBU or shinobi just out of war--was a bit… impossible with those two.

Even if a counselor would believe them, no way would the information stay away from the Hokage… and that could be bad, according to Sasuke. He supposed he could always try and get them to talk to him… and they already talked to each other. Or thought at each other… or whatever.

Right about then, Kakashi decided he had to stop thinking about his students. They were just too complicated for his mind to deal with at one o'clock in the morning.

_xxxx_

Said students were actually not in their room at that particular time, as their Jounin instructor still believed. No, they had some things to take care of before they could even think about getting any sleep--two nuke-nins, to be exact.

They couldn't have gotten far--Haku was a great deal smaller than Zabuza and the swordsman wasn't going to be in any condition to walk for at least a few days. Therefore they had to be relatively near where the ambush had been set up--and Naruto and Sasuke wanted to have a little 'chat' before things started getting ugly on the bridge.

So, instead of being nice and comfortable in Tazuna's home, they were water-walking across the very misty and damp stretch of ocean that they'd crossed in a boat not twelve hours before, intending to search out whatever Zabuza was using as a home base.

It wasn't long before they found it. Between Sasuke's Sharingan and Naruto's Kyuubi-enhanced senses, plus the fact that they could communicate without any kind of visible or audio signal… their tracking was unparalleled except in the case of the Aburame and Inuzuka clans.

_A tree house? They're hiding in a __tree house?_ Sasuke couldn't keep the incredulity out of the thought.

Naruto gave a silent snicker, _Never would have pegged Zabuza as the tree house type._

The two began to move closer, then stopped when they realized Haku and Zabuza were not alone in said tree house. Gato was there as well.

They had the dubious honor of witnessing Haku break Gato's arm and watched the short crime lord and his thugs leave the tree house. And did not attack.

_We still need to change Inari's outlook… and the only way to do that requires this whole Wave fiasco to continue more-or-less unchanged. Although…_

… _You want to see if we can keep those two alive this time, ne, dobe?_

_Hai. They… didn't need to die. And…_

_I know. Come on, let's crash their little party and get this over with._

_xxxx_


	10. Of Tree Houses and Missing Nin

_Of Tree Houses and Missing Nin_

The reception was just as swift as expected, Haku whirling with senbon in hand while Zabuza attempted to sit, reaching for a kunai on the table.

Naruto used whatever his strange flicker-speed was to restrain the Mist-nin while Sasuke put a kunai to Haku's neck, preventing him from going to his master's 'aid'.

"Ahhh--no, Zabuza-san. Can't have that," Naruto chided as he gently pushed the weakened man back down. "We don't want you doing any more damage to yourself than you already have." His eyes flicked to the raven holding Haku at bay, "And quit with the silent threats, Sasuke. That's no way to make friends."

"Hn." Sasuke holstered his kunai with an irritated glare in Naruto's direction, "He threatened you."

"And _quit_ with the overprotective streak, teme! I _can_ take care of myself."

"Aa… but you don't… dobe."

By now the two nuke-nins were wondering as to the sanity of their uninvited Leaf guests.

"You are not here to kill us?"

Sasuke snorted, "If we'd wanted you dead, we wouldn't have let you senbon Zabuza. You didn't honestly think we hadn't noticed you, did you?"

Zabuza stared at the two apparent twelve-year-olds. "Why?"

"'Cus Gaito's a lying jerk who's gonna double-cross you and have you killed whether or not you succeed in killing Tazuna--which we won't allow, by the way. So… we thought we'd offer you a deal."

Zabuza thought that over. They'd found the hideout and gotten in--neither he nor Haku had noticed either of them until after they were standing less than four feet away--and were obviously far more skilled than they appeared. They had Copy Nin Hatake Kakashi with them, plus an unidentified _kunoichi_.

"I'm listening."

_xxxx_

Naruto and Sasuke headed back, satisfied with the results of their little excursion, and collapsed into their respective beds.

_That wasn't so bad…_

_Urusai, dobe._

_It wasn't!_ Naruto defended.

He got a sense of agreement that was swallowed up by irritation in response.

_Shutting up, now._

_Good._

And Sasuke's end of the link dimmed as his breathing evened out, signaling sleep.

Naruto repressed the urge to poke his dark-haired friend, not really wanting to brave his sleepy wrath, and huffed quietly, sitting up and folding his arms.

It just wasn't _fair._ How on earth could Sasuke just go to sleep like that? Naruto wasn't as bad off as Gaara, but he still got a good deal less sleep than the average ANBU, and tonight looked like it was going to be one of those nights. By the time he might actually get to sleep, it would be almost pointless to do so.

He huffed again and got up, closing the door behind himself quietly before padding off in the direction of Kakashi's room.

He wasn't overly surprised to find the Jounin awake.

"Naruto?" Kakashi sat up, looking him over with a mildly concerned gaze. "Is something wrong?"

Naruto shook his head, "Iie, not really. Just can't sleep. Mind if I go for a walk?"

"Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll join you."

Naruto gave a slight nod and backed out and, within a few minutes, Kakashi slipped into the hall.

_xxxx_

Kakashi walked next to Naruto, noting the boy's feet made even less sound than his own on the ground… the mark of someone who had lived war for so long he'd forgotten how to walk normally.

"Is… what was it like?"

Naruto kept walking, not looking up at his sometime teacher, making his way towards a half-remembered clearing where he'd first met Haku so long ago. "Things got… bad. And… I'm sorry for… snapping at you, the second day, when you came late… it's just that…" he broke off and remained silent for several minutes.

Kakashi didn't push him, knowing that he'd find out what that had been about when Naruto was ready to tell him.

"I hadn't been Hokage very long…" Naruto said abruptly before hesitating uncertainly. "I assigned you a team of Chuunin and a recon mission… you were supposed to meet them at the North gate at seven…"

Kakashi bit his lip, not sure he wanted to hear.

"You were late. They'd never attacked in Konoha proper like that before… from what you told me, when you arrived… one of your Chuunin was already dead, and another not far from it… an enemy ANBU, we still don't know how he got in… You were hard-pressed to beat him, but if you'd gotten there sooner, maybe… maybe those two wouldn't have had to die." Naruto raised his cerulean eyes to meet Kakashi's one-eyed gaze--all laziness was gone from that eye. "You… you nearly killed yourself, Kakashi. You would have if I hadn't--" he broke off, let out a sharp breath.

"You were never late for anything again, not until the day you died. I just hoped that, maybe, this time… I could spare you that."

It was odd, Kakashi thought, to hear one's future mistakes laid bare like that. He didn't feel guilty so much as vaguely horrified by the story--it hadn't happened, yet, and Naruto hadn't said who it was that had died, so it was… impersonal, somehow.

"I see," Kakashi murmured eventually, eye-frowning at nothing.

He did see. He'd never realized that such a thing could happen--which was undoubtedly why it had. Or would. Or wouldn't, now that he knew.

Well, according to the boys, the whole point of coming back was to prevent some massive war, and if that was the case, they surely wouldn't balk at changing smaller things on behalf of… friends, it sounded like.

Kakashi blinked, snapping out of his musings to look at Naruto, who pulled a small bowl out of his pouch and started filling it with leaves gathered from a short plant that was mixed in with the grass.

"What are you doing?"

"You know Zabuza and the kid who rescued him?"

Kakashi tilted his head and nodded.

"Well, last time around, Haku was picking these to help Zabuza get better--and they're not really bad people. Sasuke and I already took care of their contract, anyway--don't tell anyone that--so I thought I'd bring some to them as a--an offer of good faith."

Kakashi opened his mouth to demand if Naruto was insane before stopping himself. Naruto had more information in this case… "All right. Be careful."

"It's a promise." He finished filling the bowl and stood, "I'll be back in a few minutes--don't go anywhere."

_xxxx_

Haku was watching over his precious person, debating whether it was safe enough to go look for healing herbs, when someone knocked at the tree house door.

Someone _knocked at the tree house door?_

He reached for a senbon and went to answer, wondering who on earth would be knocking. Of course, there was some small chance that it was merely a lost traveler… not likely.

Whatever he'd expected, it was not what he found. The boy from earlier that night--the one called Naruto--with a bowl of the same healing herbs he'd been hoping to find.

"It's not much, but it's better than nothing," Naruto offered Haku the bowl, and, rather stunned, Haku accepted.

"How did you know?"

"I have my ways…" the boy gave a foxy grin, "but I've got to go. I promised Kakashi-sensei I'd be back in a few minutes." Blue eyes sparkled as the boy poofed away.

Haku spent another minute blinking at the now-empty doorstep before closing the door and returning to the bedside, running every visual and _jutsu_-based test he could think of to check the herbs for any kind of tampering.

There was none. He even ate one and suffered no ill effects before he realized that Naruto had really just been trying to help--something that was completely unexpected.

No one had ever just wanted to help a couple of missing nins before. Especially not missing nins that had attacked them the day before.

Haku got to work making medicine for Zabuza, puzzling over the enigma that was Uzumaki Naruto.

_xxxx_

Naruto popped back into the clearing with a broad grin on his face, looking extremely self-satisfied.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

"I have a new friend!" Naruto chirped, still smiling.

Kakashi shook his head slightly, then shrugged. He wouldn't put anything past the crazy brat. "Come on, Naruto," he sighed, "Lets get back to the house."

Kakashi ended up following a very bouncy Kyuubi-host back, running through theories on where he got all that energy. He knew Naruto hadn't had any sugar recently and the boy hadn't slept at all in the past thirty-some hours, yet he was still bouncing off trees. Literally.

Perhaps the fox had something to do with it?

"Come _on_, Kakashi-sensei! I'm hungry!"

Kakashi hid a smile and picked up his pace. Even if Naruto had seen some pretty ugly things that he shouldn't have, he was still very much Naruto. Nothing caught his attention quite the way food did.

_xxxx_

_Naruto? Where have you been?_ Sasuke's mental question held a tint of irritation as he made his way down the stairs.

The dobe hadn't been in the room when he'd woken, and there was no sign that he'd slept there either.

_Went for a walk with Kakashi._ Naruto glanced up as Sasuke entered the dining room, sparing him a small grin, _And I brought Haku a present… I think things'll turn out all right._

"Hn," Sasuke looked off to the side, folding his arms, but sent a glimmer of amusement and satisfaction through his mental link to the Rukodiame.

Naruto swallowed his current bite and pointed at Sasuke with his chopsticks, "See, there you go again. Projecting feelings is not holding a conversation, teme, and neither is grunting."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and smirked, sending a sense of smug questioning while 'hn'-ing at his friend.

Naruto choked when he realized just how well he understood the implied 'you understand me, don't you?', "Oh--that is _so_ not fair," he complained, earning a plethora of confused glances from the 'adults' in the room.

Kakashi seemed to understand after another moment, as his eye curved up in a smile and he hummed thoughtfully.

Sasuke's smirk grew wider as he sat at the table. He accepted a bowl of rice and plate of fish and thanked Tsunami before starting to eat.

"I don't like you," Naruto huffed.

_Sure you don't._

"Ha! I got _words!_"

Kakashi decided to explain for those who were now hopelessly baffled before Sakura or Inari could come downstairs. "Mental link--very rare _jutsu_ that those two idiots used." He plastered a look of long-suffering on what little of his face was visible, "I am constantly getting less than half the conversation."

As Naruto had his mouth full again, Sasuke took it upon himself to defend the blond's decision. "It makes us a better team." His voice was perfectly flat.

_Aw, you like me!_

"Hn," Sasuke returned to his meal, ignoring Naruto's pout, then froze as Naruto stiffened.

"Dobe?"

Naruto shook himself and pushed his plate aside, forcing down unwanted memories triggered by an herb on the fish. _I'm fine._

_You turning down food is not fine._

Naruto spared him a glance, then fixed his gaze on the table, ignoring Kakashi's sudden concern.

_She put something on the fish that I haven't tasted since… the day of the Massacre._

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, _That is anything _but_ fine, you idiot. Flashbacks are not fine._

_Look, it's nothing you need to worry about._

Sasuke snorted aloud, _Here. Give me your fish, you can have my rice._

There was a long pause before Naruto passed Sasuke his plate, accepting the raven's rice-bowl in return. _…Thanks._

Sasuke gave a slight nod and started eating Naruto's fish.

Kakashi was the one to break the air of tension, "See? That's exactly what I mean. They hold whole conversations and no one else can hear them!"

_xxxx_

_Hm… I'm going to leave off here, for today. I have other things to do… Feedback is appreciated, as always…_


	11. Testing

_Testing_

The week had progressed in a fashion that was similar to, yet oddly different from the way it had gone 'before', as Naruto was beginning to think of his original life. As all three of them knew tree climbing and water walking, Kakashi had set Sakura on leaf-splitting after his team admitted that she'd been elected 'team healer', though she didn't have enough chakra to do much more than heal scratches with the low-level _jutsu_ Sasuke had shown her.

Kakashi sent Naruto and Sasuke off to work on their physical strength and attempt to build up their chakra coils to handle more of their total output. It was… inconvenient… to have them use rather destructive _jutsu_ every night.

That aside, things went nearly exactly the same as the last time around, even to Naruto's explosion at Inari, though the angry words were toned down quite a bit. Even if that part had been intentional, it left both Naruto and Sasuke with a distinct sense of déjà-vu.

The only thing that was drastically different was that Naruto had gotten into the habit of vanishing off to check on 'his' missing nins. Now that he knew where they were, he had no intention of letting anything happen to them while Zabuza was out of commission. Besides, he needed to keep an eye on Zabuza's recovery--the Mist-nin _had_ agreed to 'attack' at the bridge to lure Gato out of his hiding.

"Naruto!"

The boy in question jerked out of his thoughts, looking up rather sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Pay attention, dobe," Sasuke smirked from off to the side, "Kakashi's been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes."

"Sorry," he said again, rubbing the back of his head self-consciously, "I kinda got lost in thought, there."

Sakura muttered something uncomplimentary while Kakashi's one-eyed gaze lost some of its laziness to concern.

_Flashbacks again?_ The question came silently.

_Iie, just thinking about what to do if things go wrong at the bridge._

Sasuke caught Kakashi's eye and gave a small smirk, indicating everything was all right.

The silver-haired Jounin looked back and forth between the two boys, "… tell me later."

"Right."

"Good. Now, as I was saying while someone wasn't paying attention, I need to measure you three's individual chakra capacities. Now, boys, I know you aren't running at full right now, as you've blown off quite a bit of chakra recently, so I'll measure yours tomorrow. No training today. Go home and get some rest. Sakura, I want you to come with me…"

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, shrugged, and left, deciding that Kakashi just wanted to see how much they could handle compared to roughly what they could deal with at the beginning of the trip.

_xxxx_

"You've got to be kidding," Sasuke eyed Kakashi as though he thought his Jounin sensei had lost his mind. "_Chakra burning?_"

Kakashi eye-smiled and used his 'happy voice'. "Yup!" he tossed Sasuke and Naruto each a good-sized rock. "I want you to pump as much chakra into those rocks as you can and keep it up for as long as you can. Sakura managed to get hers warm and keep it that way for about twenty minutes."

"Not bad for a _kunoichi_ Gennin," Sasuke acknowledged, "But we're not _kunoichi_ and our chakra capacities are far higher than Gennin. If we're going to do this…"

"We need bigger rocks," Naruto finished, flipping his stone over and over in his hands.

"Oh?" Kakashi eyed them, "Let's see."

Sasuke glanced down at his rock, shrugged, and forced some of his chakra into it, feeling it heat up uncomfortably quickly and layering some chakra over his hands so as not to burn himself. His rock started to glow with excess energy and he glanced over to Naruto and raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," Naruto huffed, forcing chakra into his own rock… and melting it, using his chakra to levitate the liquid before it could splash and burn anything.

Sasuke _could_ melt his stone if he wanted to, but he didn't heal as fast as his blond friend and his chakra capacity wasn't quite so insane--he just heated his to a rather amorphous quality and prodded it into different shapes with his chakra.

Kakashi was staring, but Naruto and Sasuke were starting to enjoy this odd exercise. "Oi, dobe, cool yours down a bit. Let's see who can make a better animal."

Once both stones were at a claylike consistency, the boys got to actively molding them with chakra, Naruto's taking the typical shape of a fox while Sasuke's began to look rather like some kind of bird.

After about an hour of bickering and playing with their stones-turned-creatures and no sign from either of even slight weariness, Kakashi was inclined to agree that they needed something bigger to do.

He instructed the boys to cool their stones and follow him.

Naruto's was in the shape of a nine-tailed fox, curled up lazily with tails folded around itself and one ear cocked with one eye 'open', as though looking at someone who'd disturbed it's nap.

Sasuke's had taken the form of a hawk, elegantly glaring at nothing--or whoever happened to walk by--both sculptures so lifelike that Kakashi was tempted to tell the two to give up being ninja and open a store.

Instead he took them out to the water and worked them both to exhaustion.

Well, he worked Sasuke to exhaustion. Naruto didn't seem much more than slightly winded after running through every high-level _jutsu_ he'd completed and quite a few he hadn't.

"Were does he get all that chakra?" Kakashi asked the air, not really expecting an answer.

"No one knows," Sasuke stated calmly. "Without the furball's help, he's got about the same amount of chakra as a one-tailed demon--well, had. Now it's closer to one and a half. With Fuzzy… last I checked, he could handle five tails, but now it's probably back down to three. He'll need to accustom his body to handling it again--Kyuubi's chakra is pretty toxic. He hasn't touched the stuff except for healing since we came back."

Kakashi's head snapped up, "Toxic?"

Sasuke nodded, "If he uses more than his body can handle… things can get pretty bad. There have been times when it was all Tsunade could do to heal him when he went a tail past his limit."

Tsunade? Kakashi didn't like the implications of that. If _Tsunade_ was hard-pressed to heal him… "What happens if he goes over and the Sannin isn't here?"

Sasuke bit his lip, glancing sideways at his teacher. "Look, Kakashi, it shouldn't be a problem. The only times he's actually had to do that were… when he went up against the Akastsuki or Orochimaru…" _Or me._

Kakashi felt the stirrings of alarm, "That didn't answer my question, Sasuke."

Sasuke hesitated, then caved when Kakashi asked again. "He'd die. But if he starts conditioning with it now, that shouldn't be a problem," he added quickly, trying to reassure, "His chakra coils will adapt to be able to handle it."

The Jounin watched Naruto sparring with more shadow clones than should be possible for a single person to make for a few moments before nodding. "I see. This is something we won't be able to keep from the Sandaime, you know… if Naruto needs to practice with the Kyuubi's chakra, the village nin will need some kind of warning so they don't kill him."

Sasuke growled, "They would never get close enough to touch him."

Kakashi turned his attention to the black-haired boy beside him, "A little overprotective?" he suggested mildly.

"Maybe," Sasuke admitted, "but… he's my _best friend,_ Kakashi. He's the only one who never gave up on me, no matter how stupid I was or what I did to him."

Kakashi sensed a story behind this. "And what did you do to him?" he asked, raising his visible eyebrow. He expected that they'd had some sort of fight, that maybe Sasuke had gotten angry and beaten Naruto up--

"I put a _chidori_ through his chest when we were thirteen."

--not that. Kakashi stood perfectly still for several moments, trying to wrap his mind around what he'd just heard.

"_What!?_"

Sasuke was obviously not proud of this fact, "I put a _chidori_ through his chest," he repeated, looking down.

"For kami's sake, _why_, Sasuke?"

"I…" Sasuke moved further away from his still-stunned sensei, "I abandoned Konoha. I was on my way to join Orochimaru… and Naruto… tried to stop me."

Kakashi took a half-step back, "Why? Why would you _do_ that?"

Sasuke raised his head, eyes swirling with the Sharingan and long-repressed pain, "Because I was a selfish bastard who only cared about revenge, all right?"

Kakashi opened his mouth to respond, then realized he had no clue what to say.

A voice came from beside them, "Don't forget you had a curse-seal screwing with your head."

Both Sharingan-users jumped.

"That's not an excuse," Sasuke spat, glaring into bright blue eyes.

"No… but it certainly didn't help, did it, teme? Besides, you came back."

"After three years and betraying you so many times that you should have let them execute me, yeah."

Kakashi decided that the subject needed to be changed. "Weren't you going to keep up with whatever you were doing until you ran out of chakra?"

Naruto grinned, "Well, yeah, but… I got bored!"

"Is that all?" Sasuke eyed his friend suspiciously.

"'Course not. You were projecting."

Sasuke gave a slightly embarrassed wince. "Sorry."

Naruto plopped down, seemingly without a care in the world to those who didn't know better, "You've got to stop beating yourself up about all that, teme. You made your mistakes and set them right… get over it."

Painfully blunt, as always.

"Maybe we should leave this for another day…" Kakashi suggested, not wanting to get into what promised to be a very long and probably painful debate.

"Hn."

'_Sides, Sasu--none of that's actually happened, yet. And, 'cus we know it _can,_ it won't._

Sasuke's lips quirked towards something that could be called a smile. _Thanks._ He meant it. Naruto just forgave so easily… something that no one else would. Not after what he'd done.

_No problem. Now come _on,_ I want to _do_ something!_

_Hyperactive idiot._

_I am not an idiot!_ Naruto protested, glaring.

_But you don't deny you're hyperactive?_ A black eyebrow quirked upwards.

"Teme," Naruto muttered, "It's not _my_ fault that I have more chakra than all the other Gennin combined."

Kakashi eyed the two warily, wondering just how much of that particular conversation he'd missed.

"Tch. Dobe."

"Sasuke…" Naruto's tone was dangerously even.

Black eyes widened. "Oh, crap."

_xxxx_

Kakashi had been amused by the impromptu sparring session, but pointed out that they had to get to the bridge to watch Tazuna with Sakura.

Naruto thought about that and said he'd catch up--Kakashi was about to insist when Sasuke stopped him.

"We'll explain later."

"Another one of those things, huh? All right." Kakashi was somewhat surprised by his own willingness to trust them, but he did, and that was that.

Naruto headed back towards the house while Sasuke and Kakashi aimed for the bridge.

_xxxx_

The two Sharingan users arrived just in time to see Tazuna and Sakura checking on Tazuna's downed men--all unconscious, none dead.

Alarmed, Kakashi glanced at the only person who had some idea as to what was going on, and noted Sasuke's satisfied nod.

"Zabuza and Haku had an attack planned for today, and we're going to stage the whole thing," Sasuke said quietly, just loud enough for Kakashi to hear, "Until Gato gets here. If we make it obvious that we're allies, he'll just run off until he hires some stronger help. Right now, he should come later with a bunch of mercenaries to finish off Zabuza and Haku--and us, too--but he won't succeed. Just remember that you're not trying to kill Zabuza. Think of it as a… violent spar."

Kakashi nodded, eye narrowing, "And you didn't tell me this before… why?"

Sasuke snorted, "Would it actually have done you any good?"

The Jounin considered that. "… Not really."

"You just answered your own question. Get ready. I'll take Haku."

Kakashi nodded slightly as the mist began to creep over the bridge, followed by six copies of Zabuza materializing around himself and his 'student'.

Sasuke grinned, "You really need to come up with some new tricks, Zabuza-san," he practically chirped.

Kakashi did a double-take. Was this Sasuke? That tone was more the trickster of his group…

"Sorry, I've got Naruto in my head," the boy murmured to the Jounin.

That explained it.

And Sasuke _moved._ One moment he was there beside Kakashi, the next he was on the other side and all six _Mizu_ _Bunshin_ collapsed into water.

The original gave a slight tilt of his head, acknowledging one of the two new 'employers' that he had, then he called Haku.

Senbon clashed with kunai, Sasuke drawing the ice manipulator away from Kakashi and Zabuza, where mist thickened over the bridge once more.

_xxxx_

Meanwhile, Naruto had a little problem to deal with back at Tazuna's house. Namely, a couple of mercs, one of whom was more bloodthirsty than Kyuubi in a bad mood. Not more dangerous, by any means, but definitely more bloodthirsty.

Naruto watched and waited--he needed to wait until Inari came out and--there. A quick _kiwarami_ and two hard-flung kunai took care of the danger, then Naruto smiled, ruffled the boy's hair, and apologized for being so hard on him.

"Hey, do y'think you could come up with some backup? I've got to get to the bridge."

Inari straitened his shoulders and nodded determinedly, "I will!"

Naruto smiled to himself as he took off. _Sasuke? What're things like?_

_Don't distract me in the middle of a fight! I know Haku isn't aiming to kill, but those senbon _hurt!

_Right. Sorry. I'm on my way._

_xxxx_


	12. The Bridge: Part 1

_The Bridge (Part 1)_

Mist thickened around Kakashi, making it impossible to see and hard to hear. Even sensing Zabuza's location via his chakra was difficult, as the fog was heavily laced with Zabuza's chakra, masking his location.

"Head, heart, spine…" Zabuza's voice echoed from seemingly every direction at once as he began to chant all the vital points in a human body.

"Shut up," Kakashi got around behind him, just barely able to figure out his location from the use of the voice-trick.

Zabuza jerked around, not expecting that, "How--?"

"I've heard that trick before," Kakashi confided. "It's not hard to figure out, once you know the trick of it."

Zabuza reached for his sword and took a swing at Kakashi, but the movement was halfhearted at best. He didn't want to waste his energy before Gato arrived.

"So," Kakashi observed the action and lowered his forehead protector back over his Sharingan eye, "Naruto managed to convince you?"

"He is a… unique young man."

"I wasn't sure you were on board with what he said you were… he's too trusting."

Zabuza eyes his 'opponent' carefully, "We can't get away with this for long. If the boy is right, Gato is watching--the mist covers us well, but the lack of sound will alert him."

Kakashi shrugged, pulling a kunai. "Fine."

Steel met steel with a resounding screech before Kakashi sprang back and the two began to spar in earnest, now that they had determined each other's intentions in the fight.

_xxxx_

Meanwhile, the match between Sasuke and Haku was far more violent--without the concealing mist, they had to go all out or risk being discovered. Haku had brought up his mirror-dome (which Sasuke remembered all too well) and Sasuke had been forced to reveal his Sharingan.

Sasuke was getting tired of this--he pulled out three of his own senbon, each coated with a mild paralyzing agent, and let fly, aiming for where Haku's shoulder should be on this pass--

But neither Haku nor Sasuke's Sharingan had taken into account the slip when, for less than a heartbeat, Haku's footing faltered, putting his head instead of his shoulder into the path of the flying needles.

An orange-and-black blur from off to the side--Sasuke strained to snatch the needles back, but they were too far--Naruto stumbled, mental curse tearing through Sasuke's consciousness as all three needles sliced into his chest.

Into his heart.

"Naruto!" Sasuke lunged forward, catching the blond as he fell, ignoring the ice-wielder entirely as he fumbled to check Naruto's pulse.

Before he could, red chakra bubbled up around the boy, flickering oddly, before drawing back into the seal and silencing, Naruto's chakra signature fading to nothingness with the fox's.

_No--gods, no--Naruto! Answer me!_ Sasuke was caught between horror and disbelief--Naruto's heart wasn't beating, his chakra _wasn't there_, but it was just a couple of senbon! Naruto had taken a _chidori_ through the chest when Sasuke had been aiming to kill, and survived. He couldn't die like this. He _couldn't_. It wasn't possible--

"_**Kakashi!**_**"**

Sasuke's scream ripped through the air, anguished and frightened, and Haku's mirrors shattered in his shock.

_xxxx_

Kakashi and Zabuza both froze at the scream that sliced through the mist, and Zabuza backed down, opening the fog on the side towards Haku's ice dome just in time to see the mirrors splintering apart.

"No," Kakashi breathed, spotting Sasuke, Haku hovering near his shoulder uncertainly, an orange and black figure cradled against the Uchiha's chest, "Gods, no--" Kakashi bolted towards his students.

Sasuke looked up, eyes still blazing with Sharingan and horribly frantic, "He won't answer me--"

Zabuza frowned, casting Kakashi a questioning glance as they neared their respective students.

"They have a powerful bond," Kakashi said softly, "If Naruto isn't answering, he can't."

Haku beat the adults to checking Naruto's vitals as Kakashi finished what he was saying to Zabuza.

"Which mean's he's either unconscious or…"

Haku looked up and shook his head sadly.

Kakashi's eye closed in grief as he took a few stumbling steps closer to his students, "Sasuke…"

"I was supposed to protect him," Sasuke's voice cracked, "I was supposed to… this wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Sasuke. What--?"

"He's dead," disbelief and horror were melting into overwhelming guilt and grief, "He's dead." Sasuke raised his head, the tomoes in his eyes ceasing their spin to warp and stretch, forming something that looked like a three-pronged shuriken with serpent's fangs instead of steel spikes, a thin line of black tracing back from the tip of each 'fang' to the center of Sasuke's eyes.

"Sasuke, your _eyes--_"

Those eyes were terrible, not only for their thinly veiled power, but for the multitude of emotion they contained as they began to whirl slowly. "He's… Mangekyo Sharingan," Sasuke whispered, voice breaking as tears seeped from those horrible eyes. "The final stage of Sharingan… attainable… by killing your best friend."

_xxxx_

_So, this is a short chapter, but it was a good place to leave off. Well, for the writer, anyway. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up by sometime tomorrow, so don't get too upset about the length and the ending, and please don't give up just because I've… hm… damaged Team 7._


	13. The Bridge: Part 2

_kokoro: Hey, even if I leave him dead, _I_ haven't killed anyone. I merely… encourage my characters to take each other out. 'Sides, I don't take kindly to death-threats… growls softly People haven't accused me of lycanthropy for nothing, you know… No worries, here's your update, and I do hope you forgive for the cruel ending of chapter 12._

_yinan: yes, I know. Although this time it wasn't poison, per se, and it certainly wasn't a mild paralyzing agent that put Naruto under. And I'm not planning on doing it again--he'd just being a bit rash, because these are all people (with the exception of Sasuke) that he's seen die before. And he doesn't want to see that again._

_The Bridge (Part 2)_

Naruto made it to the bridge to find that everything was pretty much how it had been the first time… minus the oppressive atmosphere of honest killer-intent (the levels were far lower when it was only held up for appearance's sake) and the bloody, mostly beaten Sasuke.

Although the ice-mirror dome was in effect and Sasuke was trapped inside, sporting a few senbon, though not many.

Naruto decided to go help his teammate, leaving Kakashi and Zabuza to their own devices. He figured that he and Sasuke combined could make a convincing show of beating the ice-wielder into submission without actually harming him so Gato wouldn't suspect the betrayal until too late.

Naruto darted over, slipping between two of the mirrors just in time to see Sasuke throw three senbon--and Haku slip. Instinct took over--protect the ally--and Naruto employed his as-yet unfinished _jutsu_ to get in front of Haku, aware that, with his healing, a few senbon weren't going to do much harm if he landed right.

A pulse from the seal threw off his landing and the senbon hit, icy pain blooming in his chest, only intensifying with each heartbeat as steel needles shivered.

Naruto cursed silently as the seal pulsed again, weakness flooding his limbs faster than the senbon could account for, and he found himself staring up at a terrified Sasuke's face before his eyes slid shut of their own accord.

Kyuubi's chakra boiled up, wrapping around his consciousness and dragging him into the depths of his own mind, shutting down vital functions and binding him before the giant gate.

"Dammit, fox, what do you think you're doing!?" Naruto struggled against a cocoon of red that wrapped around his body, pinning him from the neck down.

Glowing eyes narrowed, **"Our chances of winning will be increased if Grumpy gets the Mangekyo."**

Naruto was furious at having been dragged down against his will, but confusion overrode anger for the moment, "Huh? Mangekyo? But--"

"**Despite your belief, it is not necessary to actually _kill_ one's best friend to achieve the final level of the Sharingan. The change is triggered by the extreme emotional trauma of having killed one's best friend, not the death of the friend itself."**

"So, what, you're saying he just has to _think_ he's killed me?"

A slight note of satisfaction crept into the demon's voice. **"Exactly. You caught on faster than I thought you would, gaki."**

"What?" Suddenly Naruto was fighting again, "You can't do that! Damn you Kyuubi, do have any idea what that will _do_ to him!?"

"**Relax, kit. I'll let you go as soon as his Mangekyo Sharingan stabilizes."**

"That's not the _point,_ you sadistic furball! Dammit, I'll have your _pelt_ for this!"

Kyuubi blinked down at his jailor, puzzled. He couldn't understand why the kit was making such a big deal out of this--no permanent harm was being done, after all.

"Sasuke can't handle it--he'll have nightmares for _months,_ you idiot!"

Kyuubi cocked his head. Well, that explained why his container was so upset… really, humans and their emotions… they just didn't know how to let things go. Well, Kyuubi had started to drop his block on the mind-link shortly before the kit's 'sadistic furball' comment.

No point in keeping him any longer now that his grouchy friend's eyes had evolved.

_xxxx_

"Attainable… by killing your best friend."

Kakashi felt like he'd been punched as the pieces fell into place. Sasuke… Sasuke had been the one to land the fatal blow, clearly unintentionally--and those eyes, that _voice_…

Sasuke wasn't going to be able to live with himself. Kakashi was going to lose them both.

He didn't have time to dwell on this, though, as a very irate Gato arrived with a small army of lowlife mercenaries… and ordered said mercenaries to attack.

Zabuza dodged through their ranks with the sole intent of killing his former employer, Haku covering his attack to make sure he didn't get too badly injured, and Kakashi cast one final glance towards Sasuke and the downed Naruto before doing everything he could to turn back the tide.

Sasuke joined him, a single glance from those horrible, empty eyes crumpling hardened killers into screaming, incoherent blobs of flesh, slicing through mercenaries with kunai in hand.

Sasuke was completely blanked out, fighting on pure, ingrained reflex while he struggled to come to terms with what he'd done when a _very_ familiar voice echoed in his head, vibrantly furious and _alive._

"_--point, you sadistic furball! Dammit, I'll have your _pelt_ for this!"_

Sasuke found himself envisioning ruby flecks spinning into azure, pupils stretching into familiar, angry slits.

"_Sasuke can't handle it--he'll have nightmares for _months_, you idiot!"_

It clicked.

Sasuke stumbled to a halt, shaking his head, barely dodging a clumsy sword-strike as he focused on his friend. _Naruto?_

The response was immediate. _Sasuke? Oh, gods, Sasuke, I am so, so sorry--if I knew what the furball was planning, I never would have--_

_You're alive?_ The raw agony, the _hope_ in those two words brought a pained, desperate cascade of emotion flooding through to Sasuke's mind, apology and anger and worry all rolled into a mind-searing, very welcome mess.

Sasuke surged towards his opponent, slicing his throat in a quick, efficient move before getting back out of the fight, darting back towards his too-still teammate.

_Yeah…_

Sasuke knelt, checking for a pulse and not finding one, but he could feel the dual chakras thrumming through Naruto's body. _Naruto… your heart's not beating._

_I kinda _noticed_ that--Kyuubi's circulating my blood with his chakra. He says it would be easier to neutralize your paralyzing stuff and fix the damage if you took the senbon _out_ of my heart…_

Sasuke had to grab Naruto's still unresponsive body and dodge as a particularly large merc charged. He didn't have time to be careful--he yanked all three out in a vicious arched throw, the needles effectively ending the merc's life.

The violent cursing that rang through his skull was confirmation enough that his teammate would be all right.

_xxxx_

Kakashi had been watching Sasuke out of the corner of his eye while dealing with his own little problems and almost, _almost_ tried to get to him when he faltered, nearly letting a clumsy mercenary land a blow.

When Sasuke killed the merc without using his creepy eyes and pulled out of the fight, Kakashi got confused, especially when Sasuke went back to Naruto's body.

He was distracted by an attacker, dispatched said attacker easily, and looked back in time to see Sasuke rip the senbon out and throw them at a very large mercenary--and red chakra flared up around the supposedly dead boy.

Kakashi leapt back, dodging anyone who was willing to get out of his way, and skidded to a halt near--but not _too_ near--that mass of red.

Senbon wounds hissed closed and Naruto's eyes snapped open, glowing red with slitted pupils.

Sasuke let him go, smirking, "So… Hokage. Want to help clean up this little mess?"

"Raven, get your Mangekyo in gear and _Tsukiyomi_ someone to scare off the rest of them."

Sasuke grimaced, "I don't think I have enough chakra left for that, sir."

Naruto winced. Sasuke only resorted to formalities when he was really, really upset. _We'll… talk later. Got to get rid of the mercs, now…_

Sasuke nodded and turned to glare at an incoming opponent--Naruto noted that the Mangekyo seemed to be draining a _lot_ more chakra than the three-tomoe Sharingan--and quickly put that one under a very powerful _genjutsu_.

And his Sharingan faltered.

_Forget that,_ Naruto instructed mentally, before turning his attention inwards. _Fox, I'll consider forgiving you if you give me a tail's worth._

Sasuke blinked, eyes returning to solid black, and glanced sideways at Naruto, then motioned Kakashi back and raised his voice, "Zabuza! Haku! Get _out_ of there!"

Neither nin questioned and both got well away from the mercenaries--then noticed Naruto standing up.

"Wait--weren't you _dead, _kid?"

Naruto gave a feral grin as red chakra boiled up around him, teeth lengthening into fangs while nails sharpened into claws. The chakra settled, condensed into a vauge fox-like form around Naruto's body, though he remained upright, a single, glowing tail waved behind him. The oppressive killer intent amped up by Kyuubi's chakra left even Zabuza and Kakashi trembling, though Sasuke didn't seem too worried.

"Isn't that… overkill, Naruto?"

Naruto grinned and slammed out a wave of chakra, sending those standing beside or behind him staggering and blowing anything in front of him clear off the bridge.

The mercenaries who were still alive swam for their boats and did not attempt to return to the bridge.

Red chakra retreated, taking the more demonic features with it, and Naruto staggered.

Sasuke caught his shoulder, steadying him, and gave him an odd look.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, grimacing sheepishly.

Sasuke raised and eyebrow, making a small disgruntled sound.

Zabuza and Haku were completely baffled and Kakashi was exasperated, "I wish you two would talk out loud."

Naruto gave a rather embarrassed grin, "Sorry, sensei." His voice was slightly hoarse, "It's just easier to talk like that."

Kakashi gave the impression of frowning, "What's wrong with your voice?"

Sasuke gave Naruto a hard glare, "He used more of that chakra than he should have--his body isn't up to handling it yet. He's going to be sore, lethargic, and _grumpy_ tomorrow."

"Hey!" Naruto coughed slightly after that little outburst, "You're the grumpy one."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"… I don't like you."

_xxxx_

_Hm… well, that's that, for now. It feels kind of awkward, but it's the best I can come up with right now. And I did promise to post today, so you may have it. If I decide to change anything in it--which I may--I'll announce at the beginning of the next chapter so as to let you know._


	14. Heading Home

_Heading Home_

True to Sasuke's prediction--and Sasuke seemed _very_ smug about this fact--Naruto was indeed sore, lethargic… and grumpy… the next day. If anything, he felt like he had the full-body equivalent to a hangover--after a massive bar fight.

Sasuke was teasing him unmercifully for that until Naruto gave him a hard glare.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke straitened up on reflex at that tone, "Hai?"

"Shut. Up."

Sasuke bit back the retort he wanted to make, recognizing that Naruto was in no mood to tolerate it, but couldn't hide the amusement in his voice when he responded. "Hai."

Kakashi watched the entire exchange over the top of his orange book, intrigued by their interaction. It was quite clear that Sasuke considered Naruto his leader--their story was explanation enough for that--but it was good to see the two acting like the twelve-year-olds they were on occasion. Even if that occasion involved one of his students being in relatively poor health.

Naruto growled.

Sasuke bit his lip, trying _very_ hard not to snicker, but unwittingly projected his amusement through the mental link, which, of course, only irritated the future Hokage even further.

_It's not funny!_

Sasuke let a small snigger past his usually iron control, _Sure it is._

Naruto growled louder, then cut off in a short coughing fit.

_That_ shut Sasuke up, his eyes widening in alarm, _Naruto?_

_I'm fine._ The answer was automatic, habitual… and underlaced with something that told Sasuke it wasn't entirely true, though it probably would be before the day was out.

_Maybe you should rest today,_ Sasuke suggested, worry tinting the projected thought._ You haven't had to deal with backlash from the furball's chakra in a while…_

Naruto shrugged, but Kakashi made the same observation out loud after noting Sasuke's genuine concern.

"I'll be fine," Naruto protested.

Sasuke snorted, "That may be, but you aren't yet, and the threat is gone. Just take the day off."

"It wasn't a suggestion, Naruto," Kakashi said sternly, frowning down at his stubborn student. "You are taking the day off to rest."

_xxxx_

Sasuke was more than a little surprised when Team 7--minus Naruto--and Tazuna got to the bridge. The reason? Haku _and_ Zabuza were helping to repair the damage their staged battles had caused.

That was not something to be expected from a couple of nuke-nin.

Then again, Naruto did have the interesting ability to bring out the best in even the worst people--Sasuke believed himself (and Gaara) to be living proof of that.

So maybe it was only right that the former Mist-nin and his… follower? were also changed by their contact with the hyperactive Hokage. The only people that Sasuke was relatively certain that Naruto could _not_ bring around were Orochimaru and a sparse few members of the Akatsuki.

Kakashi seemed somewhat surprised at the presence of the two former enemies as well, but he didn't comment, merely watched them for several minutes before indicating that Sasuke and Sakura should help.

Sasuke made his way over to the two, curious. He knew Naruto had liked them both the first time around, and was hoping to find out why.

"Hey, kid," Zabuza turned to Sasuke, seeming slightly cautious. "What's your name?"

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke eyed the other for a moment before moving to grab a bucket and start washing bloodstains off concrete.

"Where is Naruto-sama, Uchiha-san?" Haku asked, hesitant in such a way that suggested he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"I owe the kid for saving Haku," Zabuza added, causing the ice-wielder to turn towards him in surprise.

"Is he all right?"

Sasuke leveled a patented stare at the swordsman before inclining his head. "Naruto will be fine. His injuries were minor--at least by _his_ standards-" the second part was added in a mutter "-and his chakra reserves have already recovered. We merely wished him to rest today as a precaution."

A genuinely relieved smile broke over Haku's face and Sasuke did not miss the fond look the older ninja cast at the boy. "I'm glad," Haku breathed.

Zabuza ruffled Haku's long hair in a familiar action that spoke of habit, "Me too, kid."

Sasuke couldn't help but smile, a little sadly, at the reminder of his family… before Itachi had destroyed it.

Perhaps this was what Naruto saw in the two.

_xxxx_

By the next day Naruto and his clones joined the ranks of those working on the bridge, and the massive structure was finished in far less than the predicted time.

Somehow, Naruto managed to not only convince Zabuza and Haku to come with them to Konoha, but also managed to get Kakashi to agree that it was a good idea. Sasuke shrugged the whole matter off as Naruto's decision while Sakura started out having fits until Sasuke pulled her aside and told her to knock it off.

She did.

And the five of them set out, aiming back towards Leaf, the blond still nearly as bouncy as he had been the first time around.

Though that might just be because, this time, they weren't leaving two dead nin that Naruto had, in some way, related to, Sasuke mused.

The road back was oddly peaceful, Naruto thought to himself, idly watching the trees on either side. Especially because he'd never really gotten the chance to speak to Sasuke about what happened in Wave this time.

_Oi, dobe,_ the mental query made Naruto wince. He'd been expecting something like this--long, peaceful walks were kind of instant invitations for those uncomfortable conversations.

… _Yes?_ He sent back, a little warily.

_Come up here, will you?_

Naruto picked up his pace, jogging up from near Zabuza and Haku (who had taken rear-guard in a fashion that was almost comical, considering that they _were_ the original threat) to near Sasuke.

Dark, troubled eyes flickered towards him, then away.

… _You've been having nightmares, haven't you?_ It wasn't really a question. Sasuke had occasionally projected his distress while dreaming, and Naruto had sent back feelings of calm to help quiet him, but they weren't alone in their room anymore, what with Haku, so they'd not gotten a chance to sort things out.

Sasuke sent back a feeling that said he wasn't intending to answer that. Naruto already knew the answer, anyway.

_Do you want to talk about it?_

Sasuke gave that question some honest consideration. _Not really…_

_Sasuke…_ slight exasperation tainted that thought.

_I know. I just… you were _dead,_ Naruto._

Blue eyes flinched away from black, Naruto visibly drawing back from the older boy. _I'm sorry._ His voice was small, hurt.

_I killed you._ There was something in that, something… frightening.

_You were… Sasuke! If I hadn't--if Kyuubi hadn't--you were--_ he trailed off, unable to give words to his horror, but the feeling and images passing along just the same.

_Probably._ There were some downsides to not being able to lie mind-to-mind without the other knowing instantly. This was one of them.

_Even though it wasn't your fault?_

Sasuke winced at the pleading in that--Naruto didn't _plead._ Not like that, anyway. If the dobe pleaded for something it was comical and never serious--like his begging for Ramen. Sasuke caught Naruto's eye, deliberately activating his Mangekyo Sharingan for a few seconds.

_I… thought it was._

_Well, it wasn't. It was mostly the damn furball's fault. If he'd let me alone to land like I'd _planned_ on doing, everything would have been _fine, _ but nooo, he had to go and--_Naruto shook his head, growling softly.

Sasuke's lips quirked slightly at the 'tone'

He received a less than convincing glare for his troubles, then Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair. _Fuzzy wanted you to get the Mangekyo. He saw his chance when I went to keep Haku from getting a facefull of needles and dragged me under, stopped my heart--which is probably a good thing, considering the senbon--and hid my chakra. And made sure to block off the mind-link… all so you'd think I was dead._

Sasuke paused mid-step, frowning, _So… the location of your injury was not truly an accident?_

Naruto stopped, too, not really remembering the other members of their group, who slowed. _No. Fuzzy did _that_ on purpose. _I_ wasn't intending to land there, but he flared his chakra before I finished my _jutsu_ and I lost hold of it a few inches sooner than I wanted to._

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully, _That… makes sense. I heard you, you know. Right before…_

Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh, kami," he sounded vaguely horrified as he forgot to think the comment, "How much of that did you hear?"

Sasuke gave a slight smirk,deciding that if Naruto was going to talk, so was he. "Just something about skinning him alive…" he trailed off for a moment, then finished silently, _and you saying that I'd have nightmares for months._

Naruto winced, "Ano…"

Sasuke held up a hand and started walking again, ignoring the now quite obvious audience, "No, you were right."

Naruto huffed, "I don't _want_ to be right about that!"

Sasuke grimaced, "I don't want you to be right, either. That doesn't change the fact that you are."

"Oh, gee, thanks."

_xxxx_

Zabuza had noticed a few things on their trek. Among them was the fact that Hatake, while seemingly engrossed in his book, paid quite a bit of attention to the two boys on his team. If one of the two tensed, that disinterested look in the Sharingan-user's visible eye would vanish.

If both tensed, the book lowered.

If both tensed and one or both started glancing at the surrounding forest, the book vanished entirely and was replaced by a kunai unless or until one of the boys indicated that there was nothing to worry about.

That meant that the Copycat Ninja believed that those two boys were better at sensing danger than he himself was. Interesting.

The other thing he noticed was that the two were oddly in sync with each other, seemingly carrying on whole conversations with just the odd glance--and sometimes not even that.

So, when Naruto-san--he had no idea when the boy had qualified for an honorific in his book, much less a respectful one--went from walking slightly to the side and in front of himself and Haku to jogging up next to the Uchiha, he watched.

And was once again baffled as to how those two communicated, as a variety of emotions passed through both stances, as though they were carrying on a full conversation.

When Sasuke stopped, so did the sensei, so Zabuza and Haku paused as well. The pink-haired girl waited, looking impatient, while Naruto stopped and looked at his friend, apparently oblivious to the fact that the two of them were the center of attention.

After a moment, the Uchiha nodded, and Naruto got a strange look on his face. "Oh, kami," he said, sounding… upset, "How much of that did you hear?"

Zabuza frowned, glancing at Haku, who seemed just as confused as he was. How much of _what_ did Sasuke hear? They hadn't even been _speaking!_

"Just something about skinning him alive…" a flicker of a different emotion flickered through dark eyes, and the conversation took a turn that made absolutely no sense.

"Ano…"

Sasuke cut off the protest with an upheld hand, "No, you were right."

Again, right about _what?_ Skinning someone alive? Zabuza glanced to the boys' instructor, and noted mild bemusement that said this sort of thing was not entirely uncommon.

"I don't _want_ to be right about that!" the blond protested.

Well, at least they'd said something relatively consistent, even if he still had no clue what was going on.

"I don't want you to be right, either. That doesn't change the fact that you are." Stoic. Just like he'd read many Uchihas were… at least before the clan was mostly decimated from within.

"Oh, gee, thanks."

The sarcasm seemed to signal the end of the odd conversation and the two started walking again, ignoring their puzzled observers.

Zabuza couldn't quite hold back the question. "What was that about?"

Naruto glanced back at the former Mist nin, "Kakashi-sensei didn't tell you?" he sounded slightly surprised. "Huh."

"Dobe," Sasuke stated. "Kakashi didn't even tell _Sakura_, remember?"

A slight frown crossed Naruto's face. "Oh. She wasn't in the room when he told Tazuna and Tsunami, huh?"

"Tell me _what?_" and irritated _kunoichi_'s voice cut in.

"Ano…" Naruto cringed away from the girl, which amused Zabuza.

The boy was apparently willing to stare death in the face for a near-total stranger and was afraid of the pink-haired brat of a girl?

"We have a mind link," Sasuke said flatly. "We can communicate over any distance without sound. And we cannot convincingly lie to each other because of it."

"Yeah, it's kinda hard when the other person can read your emotions. Which is why Sasu--"

_If you finish that statement, I will _hurt_ you,_ Sasuke growled, sensing the overly-endearing nickname about to be used through the rather mischievous feeling Naruto was projecting.

Naruto held up his hands, "All right, all right, jeez. Can't take a joke, can you?"

Sasuke grunted noncommittally and Naruto gave a half-hearted grin. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, teme."

"Dobe."

_I was good enough to beat _you.

No way was Sasuke going to acknowledge that one out loud--or mentally--to Naruto or anyone else… but the convenient feature of emotion reading let Naruto know he'd won that round of 'verbal' sparring.

Kakashi gave a long-suffering sigh that Zabuza discovered he had the odd urge to imitate--though he didn't.

Haku giggled slightly at the other boys' antics, glad that, for once, he and Zabuza were with a _happy_ group. Even if they were rather odd. He would be sad when they reached Konoha and would no longer be able to travel like this, nearly carefree and full of life and laughter.

_xxxx_

_So, here's another chapter--sort-of filler, but one can't have fights and plots all the time! Life never does, after all…_


	15. Homecoming

_Homecoming_

Iruka was _worried. _When Team 7 got back from their supposedly C-rank mission, Kakashi had requested a private debriefing—something that usually only happened for B-rank and above. He had seen neither hide nor hair of any member of Team 7 but Kakashi.

Which was why, right now, instead of being on his way home to take a much-needed break from his hectic days, he was roof-hopping towards Naruto's apartment, hoping to find out what had happened on that mission.

Naruto wasn't home.

He wasn't at the Ramen stand, either, or on top of Yondaime's head.

After Iruka ran out of all the normal places to look, he decided to resort to drastic measures. He would seek out one of Naruto's teammates and ask. Sakura? No, she would be at home, probably getting grilled by her parents. His best bet was Sasuke, who seemed to have built up quite the friendship with the energetic blond.

Iruka dropped down in front of the Uchiha compound and reached up to knock on the door, but it opened before he got the chance and he was tackled by a fast-moving orange-and-black blur. "Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka blinked, slowly settling his arms around the boy's trembling shoulders. That voice was familiar, but the tone was not—he hadn't heard that harsh, fragile edge in Naruto's voice before. Ever.

"Naruto? Is something wrong?" Iruka berated himself silently for asking a stupid question. Of _course_ something was wrong if Naruto sounded like _that._ Not to mention the desperate quality to the hug.

"He's been a bit on edge for a while," Sasuke was leaning against the wall not six feet away, and Iruka started. He hadn't noticed the other boy at all!

"He's missed you."

There was something in the way Sasuke said that… what, Iruka didn't know, but it sounded far more serious than the simple 'you haven't seen him in a while' type missing that would be expected from an extended C-rank.

"What happened?"

Sasuke straitened, pushing away from the wall, "Come on, dobe, let Iruka go. You can cling again once we're inside."

Naruto made a sound somewhere between a whimper and a growl, but obeyed, and teacher followed former students into the house.

_xxxx_

Sasuke, being a good host, brought his guests tea. He waited until Iruka had picked up his cup and taken a few sips before saying anything—Naruto was curled against the teacher like a fox-kit and hadn't said anything past the one outburst of 'Iruka-sensei'.

"The mission went A-rank," he informed, completely without preamble.

Iruka choked on his tea, setting the cup down hastily to avoid spilling more than he already had.

"It hit B-rank within two days and escalated to A in three—Naruto and I… we both had to kill before the mission was out. At least we spared Sakura that. She's not ready."

It was true, but it wasn't why Naruto was acting so insecure, and Sasuke knew it. Iruka, however, didn't. And Iruka was better off not knowing the real reasons… Naruto had finally cracked.

He wasn't surprised, not really. Naruto had been trying so hard to hold himself together, to act the cheerful idiot again while being as inwardly stoic as any Uchiha—as he'd had to be, during the war—as soon as the outside pressure let up…

He just needed some time. Time to quit pretending, else he'd lose his mind under all that strain.

Sasuke, at least, had only one mask to keep up. That one was easy, as he could relax once he got home, and still felt distanced from the rest of the Rookie Nine, but Naruto was wearing two and neither could be dropped when he got back to that little apartment, not with half his neighbors more than willing to kill him should he do anything 'out of character', for fear of the demon fox.

But Iruka would understand that the first kill was always the hardest, and assume that Naruto just took it a little harder than most. It wasn't the truth, but it was… true.

"Naruto?" Iruka asked quietly.

Naruto opened one eye and grunted in response.

"Are you all right?"

Naruto hummed and closed his eye again, snuggling against his teacher 's side.

_Naruto…_ Sasuke thought, slightly exasperated.

_M'comfy._ He protested silently.

_Yes, I can see that. However, Iruka is worried._

Naruto made an unhappy churl in his throat, hiding his face under his arm like a sleepy kitten.

Sasuke snorted softly, "I think that means he doesn't want to move."

He spotted the smile playing at the corners of the Academy teacher's mouth as the Chuunin looked down at his favorite student, draping an arm over the huddled shoulders. Sasuke allowed himself a small smirk, pleased that the teacher was every bit as caring as Naruto had made him out to be at this point in time.

"I guess not," Iruka ruffled the blond hair gently, chuckling at the near-purr that escaped Naruto's throat. He looked so young right then, so… defenseless.

Sasuke waited until Naruto fell asleep before turning his attention fully on the teacher. "He's… been under a lot more stress than he'll admit, lately. Do you think you could look after him tonight?"

Iruka was surprised at the request, "Why?"

Sasuke sighed, "He won't admit it, but… he's been having nightmares off and on since the Gennin exam. He called for you."

Iruka winced. He never thought that seeing him get hurt could give Naruto nightmares…

Sasuke felt vaguely guilty at having implied that it was Iruka's fault—although Naruto _had_ admitted to having nightmares involving the kind Chunnin's death—but not guilty enough to retract his request. With Naruto's mask crumbling now that the Wave Fiasco (which hadn't been as much of a fiasco, this time) was over, Sasuke was pretty certain that the Rokudaime would be seeing the war tonight.

"He called for me?" Iruka was hoping he'd misheard.

Sasuke nodded, "It… scared me. I've never seen him like that before…" _Blatant lie though that may be, I still hadn't seen him like that before in _this_ timeline._

Iruka agreed.


	16. Breakdown

_Breakdown_

Kakashi found himself slightly more irritated than he could hide when he walked into the missions office to give his report. Not that he was planning on it, what with all the Chuunin in the room—Iruka included. Damn.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi's voice could have frozen fire, "I would like to request a private debriefing."

Sarutobi had not been expecting that—he stared at the former ANBU for several seconds, trying to read his mostly hidden expression. Yes, Kakashi was very serious.

"Granted." With that, he dismissed the Chuunin, Iruka hesitating to look at Kakashi before moving towards the door.

"Iruka," Kakashi said quietly, just as the teacher reached the door, "I think Naruto would like to see you."

Iruka nodded and left, looking troubled as he closed the door.

Kakashi didn't say a thing until after the Third had placed a privacy barrier on the room, end even then he waited for a prompt.

"Why the private debriefing? It was only a C-rank."

"We were given false information on the mission parameters," Kakashi said flatly, "The mission was an A-rank."

Sarutobi choked on his pipe, staring at the Jounin's single visible eye in hopes of spotting some hint of a joke.

He didn't find one. "What happened?"

Kakashi told him.

_xxxx_

The Hokage dismissed Kakashi with instructions on watching the two that Naruto apparently convinced to ask to join the Leaf, deciding he would deal with that in the morning. He couldn't simply say 'yes'. Zabuza was a missing nin from a semi-allied country, after all.

Haku… he could probably get the boy accepted without much trouble. He'd never had a village affiliation and was still young. But… what rank? He couldn't enter a loner in the Chuunin exams—they were for three-man cells. So, at least until the next year, Haku would have to be a Gennin.

Perhaps he could recruit the boy for ANBU?

Then again, perhaps not. From what Kakashi said of his skills, they were great enough to get him into ANBU, but it sounded as though he would not kill without relatively personal reasons. Not ANBU, then. Someone kindhearted shouldn't be asked to become an elite assassin, especially not when so young.

So what, he wondered, was he going to do with those two?

_xxxx_

Naruto started up with Iruka's name in his throat, rage and fear and _pain_ wrapped up in that cry, eyes flickering between azure and crimson.

He froze, not sure where he was. The room was unfamiliar, but the scent that lingered faintly around small items was decidedly less so, though he couldn't place it.

The door burst open, breaking through his musings and sending him on red alert, the pain of the dream-memory shoved back in favor of survival—he was halfway across the room with a _kage_ kunai in hand before the door even finished opening, launching at the figure in the door.

He registered two things as the startled human threw up his arms—a Leaf Chuunin vest and Iruka's ink-and-paper scent—and dismissed the kunai before it could make contact, remembering.

He could not, however, halt his forward momentum and ended up tackling his former teacher hard enough to slam them both into the wall across the narrow hallway.

_xxxx_

Iruka was stunned—he'd _never_ seen a Gennin move that fast, that decisively. And he certainly hadn't expected Naruto to know the _kage_ kunai technique—didn't you need to have a real kunai somewhere for that to work?

He looked down at Naruto, who switched from trying to kill him to clinging desperately the instant he'd made contact and slowly lowered his hands to the boy's shaking shoulders. It took him a moment to realize Naruto was crying, silent sobs wracking his thin frame.

"Naruto?"

The only response was a shake of his blond head, refusing to either pull back or look up.

Hm. This could prove problematic.

Iruka tried to gently pry the obviously distraught boy loose so he could look him in the eye. The operative word being 'tried'. Naruto wouldn't budge.

"Naruto," Iruka said again, slightly more firmly. "Look at me." He put a hand under the boy's chin to nudge his face upwards, but Naruto shook his head again, burrowing against the green vest as though it were his last link to sanity.

From the way he was acting, it might have been.

Iruka sighed quietly, realizing that this was going to get him nowhere. And he'd heard the terror in Naruto's voice when the boy had screamed for him.

Sasuke hadn't been kidding. Maybe… Naruto just needed to convince himself that his teacher wasn't leaving.

"Come on, then," Iruka murmured, deftly twisting out of Naruto's deathgrip and scooping the boy up before he had a chance to protest.

He brought Naruto into the living room and deposited him on the couch, folding the afghan from the back of it over the boy's shoulders. "I'll be right back," he assured, then dodged into the kitchen.

_xxxx_

Naruto sat quietly, wondering why he was in Iruka-sensei's house. He had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with Sasuke.

Well, one way to find out.

_Sasuke?_

There was a long pause before a somewhat muddled reply. _Dobe? Do you have any idea what time it is?_

Oops. _Not really…_

A touch of exasperation brushed his mind, the mental equivalent of a sigh. _… What is it?_

Naruto bit his lip, _Why am I at Iruka-sensei's?_

…

_Sasuke?_

Still no reply.

_Oi, teme! Don't tell me you fell asleep!_

A trace of embarrassment filtered through with Sasuke's slow reply. _… I was… worried. I thought… maybe… talking to Iruka would help._

Naruto flinched at that—the idea of lying to the first person (aside from the Third) to accept him as he was was repulsive.

"Naruto?" Iruka was back, setting a mug of hot chocolate on the small table before him, but Naruto didn't really notice.

_But… I—_

_I'm not asking you to lie to him, Naruto,_ Sasuke's 'voice was underlaced with exasperation. _You obviously trust him, and he's one of the few that trusts you at the moment. Just… tell him._

Naruto blinked, surprised that Sasuke actually _understood_, and sent a wash of gratitude back to his second-in-command.

The response was a mental shrug and silence.

"Naruto!"

Naruto jumped and shook himself, rubbing the back of his head, "Ano… sorry, Iruka-sensei… I was talking to Sasuke."

"Talking to Sasuke?"

"Aa, he's less snappy when he's half asleep."

The blank confusion on Iruka's face made Naruto cock his head. "Kakashi-sensei didn't tell you?"

Now Iruka was getting wary, "Tell me _what?_"

"Ano… about the mind-link? I was sure he's tell _you…_"

"Kakashi didn't tell me anything," a tinge of irritation leaked into Iruka's voice, then he registered the first part of that comment. "Mind link?"

Naruto put on a smile, "Yup!"

"Naruto… the only _jutsu_ I've heard of that can create a mind link… has never been successful. It's always killed those who attempt to use it." The words were carefully chosen, the tone more level than Naruto had ever heard Iruka use before—and the man's chakra was spiking wildly.

Crap; Iruka was _mad._ He was just trying to keep calm until he found out if that was the _jutsu_ Naruto had used…

"Ano, Iruka-sensei, the _jutsu_ isn't really that dangerous. It just takes up a lot of chakra and you can't cut it off 'till it's finished…"

"Which _kills!_" Iruka burst out, halfway to his feet.

"Hai. It can."

Naruto's calm left Iruka off-balance—Normally he would be either yelling or sulking by now.

"Why—why would you risk that?"

"I didn't."

Iruka settled back, confused, "What?"

Naruto snorted, "Iruka-sensei… you don't honestly think that the fox would let me die of anything as inglorious as _chakra exhaustion_, do you?"

That comment shouldn't be half as comforting as it was…

"Naruto…" Iruka wasn't sure how to ask this, not wanting the boy to retreat back into that quivering mess of fear and pain again, but needing to know why he was acting so… different.

"Ne, Iruka…"

Iruka looked up, slightly worried. It was the first time in recent memory that Naruto hadn't called him 'sensei'.

"I have something to tell you…"

_xxxx_

_So, another short chapter. I'm swamped with homework—for more than sixteen hours strait this weekend—and I doubt this coming week will look any better. Chapters are likely to be short until school settles to a manageable level. As for that other story I promised a certain someone to work on… It's going to have to wait until I get this paper finished. Probably, anyway._


	17. Settling In

_A Reviewer: Thanks. That's very encouraging, and don't be afraid to point out anything that I do wrong. Even if you think it's just a typo--If I can, I'm more than willing to go back and fix things._

_SnowFox83: Glad you like it._

_Shinigami: The Sand Sibs? Informed? Very likely--but not yet. Suffice it to say, they were to scared to ask--and Gaara rarely offers information without some kind of prompting._

_Settling In_

Iruka sat and stared while Naruto fidgeted, not entirely comfortable with being subjected to such an intensely vacant gaze.

"Ano… Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka shook his head slightly, brining his focus back to the boy—man—in front of him. Gods, it was going to be hard to think of him as older than twelve… "Yes, Naruto?" Everything he'd said made a horrible kind of sense—it explained Naruto and Sasuke's sudden bond, the way they'd been acting differently…

"Aren't you going to… I don't know… say something?"

"Like what?" At least Naruto had achieved his dream… but if he'd really committed suicide to come back… Iruka didn't even want to think about that. About how much it would take to drive that ball of energy to that kind of desperation.

Naruto's face went blank, a sort of emotionless mask. The last time he'd heard that tone from Iruka…

The academy teacher seemed to realize he'd said something wrong when his erstwhile student went rigid, eyes darkening from cerulean to a stormy grey-blue, a small shudder running through his frame.

"Naruto?"

The boy's breathing quickened, his chakra spiking in short jerks that left Iruka trembling, feeling as though he was sitting in the middle of a lightning storm. "Naruto!"

The shout cut through Naruto's beginning flashback and his chakra settled, the prickling in the air fading away as he drew a deep, shaky breath. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei."

"I get the feeling that I'm the one who should be apologizing," Iruka observed wryly. "What _was_ that?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and managed a weak smile, "Nothing… just flashbacks."

"Just—" Iruka cut himself off, thoroughly unnerved. 'Just' flashbacks? Not likely 'just' anything, not after what Naruto had said about the war. "Naruto…"

"I'm fine, Iruka-sensei."

The Chuunin sighed and stood, circling around the small table to the couch, "There's no such thing as 'just' flashbacks, Naruto."

The sound he got in response to that was something between a short laugh and a sigh, "You sound like Sasuke…"

Iruka blinked. "Sasuke?" Since when would _Sasuke_ say anything like that? He caught that thought and chuckled, shaking his head. "This is going to take some getting used to."

_xxxx_

Meanwhile, Kakashi didn't know what he was supposed to do with the missing nin and his apprentice that had essentially been dumped on his doorstep until the Hokage could figure out what to do with them. And it was _Naruto_ who had brought them…

Not that Zabuza and Haku were poor houseguests; quite the opposite, in fact. They were polite (which, in Zabuza's case, was somewhat freaky), quiet, and kept to themselves. Once they'd been given futons to sleep on and eaten, they settled in the room Kakashi showed them to and were silent the rest of the night.

It was _creepy._ Kakashi was unaccustomed to having guests overnight, and he just _couldn't sleep._ Not through any direct fault of the two in his guest room, but every time he was _almost_ asleep, his mind would register two chakra signatures that had, at least once, been considered 'hostile' with no 'friendly' signatures around… and wake him back up.

He desperately hoped that the Hokage would figure something out soon.

_xxxx_

Kakashi got his wish. Early in the morning, a Chuunin 'dropped by' to tell Kakashi that he and his 'guests' were to report to the Hokage ASAP. Kakashi had no problems with this, though the other two were slightly more wary.

They had nothing significant to worry about.

Once in the Hokage's office, Kakashi was reduced to observer while the Sandiame explained the situation to the two 'Mist' nins.

"There will be no trouble with accepting Haku, as he has never had a village affiliation, so long as we make it sound as if you simply took him in and trained him relatively recently," Sarutobi explained to Zabuza. "You, on the other hand… I won't hand you back to Mist; that would be an instant death-sentence and Naruto _did_ promise you a fair chance. As he is a Konoha shinobi, I won't have his word broken so easily. You will be put on probation for a period of one year."

Zabuza exchanged a glance with his apprentice and shrugged slightly. That was more than he had been expecting.

"There will be conditions, of course."

"Of course." The swordsman's voice was perfectly level.

"You will be permitted only small arms until you prove yourself trustworthy—that sword will be placed in my personal vault so that no one will tamper with it. If you attack a Konoha citizen or ninja in anything but training, I will not be able to prevent the council from handing you back over to Mist. Therefore, you must make it very clear that you are _training_ or _sparring._ I would advise that you make this clear with a trustworthy third party, such as Kakashi or Sasuke."

The wording rubbed both nin the wrong way, "What of Naruto-sama?" Haku asked sharply while Zabuza scowled.

"Naruto is considered… village prankster. Unfortunately, this means that his word is… less accepted… than certain other members of society. Sasuke is nearly worshipped as the sole Uchiha heir, and Kakashi is known for his loyalty to Konoha—and neither one of them will deliberately betray you."

Both foreign ninja could tell that the Hokage was hiding something, but it didn't seem a good idea to say that to his face, as they were more-or-less at his mercy. They conceded with slight nods.

"As for you, Haku, you will be instated as a Konoha Gennin," he held up a hand to forestall any protest Zabuza might have on the behalf of his student, "I am aware that you are higher than Gennin level, but I cannot introduce you into the Chuunin exams, as this year they are set up for three man cells only. If you wish, you can train as a medic-nin at the hospital and, when they decide you have advanced enough, they can raise you to Chuunin themselves. Our med-nin have a different way of ranking Gennin through Jounin than the rest of the village, and I tend not to interfere."

Haku glanced hopefully at Zabuza, who shrugged a tacit permission.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Haku gave a slight bow in the old man's direction, "I would enjoy that very much."

Zabuza tilted his head slightly in acknowledgement. "It is far more than I expected, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi breathed out; that had gone well. "Ano… Hokage-sama… where will they be staying?"

Sarutobi took the pipe out of his mouth and pointed it at Kakashi, "I have yet to arrange suitable accommodations. They will continue staying with you unless one of your Gennin is willing to house them, at least until I can arrange for an apartment."

Kakashi cursed silently.

_xxxx_

"You're late," Naruto growled when Kakashi finally turned up on the training grounds. Sakura was absorbed in practicing her aim under Sasuke's instruction (that crush apparently _could_ be good for something), so didn't berate her teacher's tardiness.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, genuinely embarrassed now that he knew _why_ Naruto so disliked his tardiness, "Gomen… I was talking to the Hokage about our new friend's situation…"

Blue eyes evaluated him carefully, then Naruto nodded and turned his attention back to his training, "Unless you have a mission for us, you might want to go over _chidori_ and _raikiri_ with Sasuke. He's not used either, yet, but he needs to have a plausible excuse for knowing them."

Kakashi blinked, stared at Naruto for a moment, then shook himself. "I keep forgetting you're older than I am."

Naruto grunted, "Where are Zabuza and Haku now and do we have permission to train with them? If so, I would like to go over my water _jutsu_ with them."

"Probably at my apartment… and, yes. If you decide to spar with Zabuza, you just have to make it _very_ clear that you are training."

Naruto snorted derisively, "No; _you_ have to make it very clear you're training. If Zabuza accidentally kills _me_, the council and most of the village will hail him as a hero."

Kakashi really didn't know what to say to that, and it showed in the tiny visible portion of his face.

Naruto waved off the concern. "They'll figure it out eventually, don't worry about it. Anyway, I'm gonna see if I can get Zabuza to spar with me."

Kakashi nodded absently and turned his attention to the task that Naruto had given him. 'Teaching' Sasuke a few A and S-ranked killing _jutsu._

How did he get himself into this situation?

_xxxx_

Not long afterwards, Zabuza was wondering the same thing. He'd agreed to spar with the blond kid, but he'd never expected said kid to be that powerful. Though Zabuza's physical strength and endurance were well above the twelve-year-old's (no surprise there), the kid had more chakra than it looked like, to still be standing after _that_ stunt—where the heck did he get enough chakra to use that kind of water _jutsu_ without a lake nearby?—and a _jutsu_ compliment that ranged from academy-level to S-class techniques that the former Mist-nin was ashamed to admit caught him off guard.

At least, he attributed the fact that he was lying flat on his back; soaked, bruised, and a bit winded; three feet away from a grinning blond to being caught by surprise. Even so, the kid was _good._

Haku wasn't helping Zabuza's sense of pride at all. He was giggling at his master's plight, knowing Zabuza was in no danger.

Zabuza levered himself up and shot a glare at the still-giggling Haku before turning his attention to sparkling blue eyes, "Where did you _learn_ that?" Water techniques weren't commonly taught in Leaf.

Naruto just grinned, "You used it on Sasuke."

From a Sharingan user? But it was very difficult for anyone to teach a technique learned through that _doujutsu_, if what the Bingo book said was correct…

Naruto tapped the side of his head, "Mind link."

Ah. That _would_ circumvent the need for conventional teaching methods.

"So, ya gonna take me seriously, now?"

Wait. Had the kid used _that_ _jutsu_ just to prove a point? It ate up chakra so fast that he was surprised the boy was still standing—much less grinning.

Zabuza rethought his tactics.

"I think I will, gaki."

_xxxx_


	18. Training

_Training_

The next week passed in a blur of training for Team 7—although Sakura rarely saw either of her teammates, who were off working with that freaky red chakra of Naruto's. Instead, she worked with Kakashi on chakra control and Genjutsu and Haku helped her with some of the simpler medical _jutsu_.

Several times, she found herself grateful for the endurance training Sasuke and Naruto had pressed on her. Without it, she wouldn't have lasted more than an hour or two at a time. As it was, she managed three or four hours before either of her 'teachers' felt obligated to have her rest, and was progressing well in both fields.

_xxxx_

Sasuke winced slightly when his sparring partner hit the ground, "You OK?"

Crimson bled out of slitted eyes, leaving behind slightly dazed blue, and Naruto seemed to consider the question carefully. "Ow." He pushed himself back up, "So, two tails is still a bit shaky."

"You should be more careful. Even with your healing, this could start to hurt more than help."

"Sasuke, you know better than anyone why I need to get back up to at least three… before the second part of the Chuunin exams."

Sasuke switched off his Sharingan and sighed, "Still… rest for a few hours. We can pick this back up after lunch."

"Yes, Mother," Naruto quipped, retreating from the retaliatory swat before bolting towards town.

Sasuke growled, _I'm not mothering you!_ he sent after the retreating blond.

A sense of superior amusement flickered back at him.

_xxxx_

"So, is anyone entering their teams in the Chuunin exams?"

Kakashi bothered to stop reading and glance up when the unnamed speaker presented the question to the Jounin-sensei at large.

"Yosh! My team's youthfulness is ready!"

Kakashi grimaced behind his mask, but kept quiet—at least about Gai's 'youthfulness'. "I'm entering Team 7."

"You are?"

Kakashi hummed, re-opening his book—which was one Naruto had given him, _not_ one of his "Icha Icha" novels.

Kurenai cocked her head as she examined the book, "Branching out in your reading material?"

"Hm."

Asuma came up behind him and attempted to grab it, and Kakashi quickly snapped it shut and tucked it away.

"Is it a new pervert-novel?" Kurenai asked.

"No."

"Is your team ready?" one of the other ninja asked.

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Aa."

"Why won't you let us look at your book?"

"It's not mine."

Asuma blinked, "Whose is it?"

"Naruto's. He'd kill me if anything happened to it."

Anko snickered, "One of your _Gennin_ would kill you? You're getting soft."

Kakashi let his voice go flatly serious. "Naruto is better than any of you give him credit for. He took on Zabuza and won." Kakashi neglected to mention it was a sparring match, but he'd seen what Sasuke could do, and Sasuke maintained that Naruto was better…

"He _what?_" The Jounin that had been paying attention turned to stare.

"Ask him," Kakashi waved towards the door, which Zabuza had just opened.

"Hatake. Do you know—" he was cut off by Anko getting in his face, and eyed the strange woman cautiously.

"Is it true that you were beat by a Gennin?"

Zabuza glared, "If you are referring to Uzamaki-san, yes."

That silenced everyone. Zabuza, while he was mostly civil towards the village ninja, _never_ gave anyone aside from the Hokage any kind of honorific.

Except, apparently, Naruto.

"Now, if you don't mind… Hatake. Haku would like to use your kitchen tonight."

Kakashi blinked lazily at his houseguest and shrugged. "So long as he cleans up after himself."

"Thank you."

And Zabuza walked out, leaving a group of shell-shocked Jounin-sensei in his wake.

Kakashi smirked, veritably _radiating_ smugness. "Never underestimate my Gennin."

_xxxx_

When Kakashi came and handed Team 7 their entrance papers for the Chuunin exams—on time—Naruto was veritably bouncing in excitement, much to the silver-haired Jounin's amusement. After all, Naruto had already done this once, according to both him and Sasuke. What was there to be so excited about?

"Ne, ne, Sasuke? You know what this means?"

The last Uchiha rolled his eyes, "What, Naruto?"

Sakura and Kakashi just watched in bemusement.

"Gaara's coming!"

Gaara… that name was familiar… hm. Kakashi couldn't quite place it, though he was certain he'd heard the name from one of the boys before. He'd never gotten much of an explanation, though.

"… and?"

"You're no fun," Naruto pouted, folding his arms.

"Gaara has the disturbing tendency to _crush people to death_, Naruto."

"Oh, come on, he's not _that _bad…" Naruto decided that it was perhaps better to finish this conversation privately, _He only does it in serious fights, now._

Sasuke stared at him for a moment, _Naruto, do you have any idea how disturbing it is to be wrapped up in living sand, completely at the mercy of someone who happens to host an insane demon?_

Naruto just blinked at him.

… _Right. Shukaku's scared of you._

"They're doing it again, aren't they, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked loudly, jarring the boys out of their 'conversation'.

"So it would appear," Kakashi agreed sagely, picking up his Naruto-given volume of underhanded _jutsu._

"OK, OK, we'll stop, jeez…"

_Says you._ Sasuke sent idly.

_I _could_ order you…_

Sasuke didn't deign to reply.

_xxxx_

Sasuke had noticed something since they'd returned. When Konohamaru came looking to 'play ninja', unless Naruto was in a situation where he literally _couldn't_, he never complained. Not this time around.

So, when the 'Konohamaru Corps', or whatever they were calling themselves, turned up to pester the blond into playing with them, Sasuke shook his head and smiled to himself. It was easy to understand why Naruto did it—the chances he'd had hadn't usually been taken, and then there were no more. When war hit, 'playing ninja' gave way to fighting for their lives in the very streets they'd played in.

At the same time, Naruto was preparing them. The three children found themselves spotted out and their techniques corrected over and over again, until they actually could hide from most Gennin. If you didn't count Naruto or Sasuke. Even Sakura, who'd become rather adept at spotting out chakra signatures, barring those of her teammates and Jounin-sensei (who got better at hiding even as she got better at spotting, as far as she could tell) had trouble pinpointing Konohamaru and his friends.

Naturally, Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi kept their hiding techniques to just slightly above Sakura's ability to spot easily, in order to get her to improve.

So, this time, Sasuke followed along after Naruto, and smirked when Konohamaru insulted Sakura—apparently by accident—and Naruto (rather prudently, Sasuke thought) told the boy to run.

And Konohamaru ran, Naruto right behind him.

_xxxx_

Gaara was irritated. Not that being irritated was a particularly foreign notion to him—he found many things annoying—but having to play along with Orochimaru while he impersonated the Kazekage was far more than annoying.

If he thought he could have won—in his thirteen-year-old body without his control being back up to where he wanted it to be, though his chakra coils _were_ starting to catch up with his output, he was pretty sure he couldn't—he would have crushed the snake Sannin where he stood.

As it was, he didn't, and now he and his siblings were walking into Konoha. Together.

Though they were still terrified of him.

Gaara suppressed a sigh and ignored said siblings—they had obviously wondered why Gaara had warned them off when Shukaku made his bid for freedom, but been too scared to ask. He'd volunteered some of the information, saying that he knew 'Mother' wasn't Mother, now, and decided that he couldn't always let the demon have its way.

However, it was quite clear to any with eyes that said demon could still get at least partially into Gaara's head—damn tanuki wouldn't let him get a good night's sleep. With Naruto's additional seal in place, Shukaku couldn't take over, but the sand demon was more than happy to provide nightmares of epic proportions should Gaara fall asleep.

Now, though… that was the one good thing about going to see Naruto. The hyperactive Hokage held what was, for all intents and purposes, a ten-tailed demon that scared Shukaku witless. If Naruto told Shukaku to let Gaara be, the tanuki wouldn't _dare_ disobey… but that also meant that it wouldn't let the sand be used as a method of keeping Naruto at bay.

And Gaara _hated_ hugs.

He refrained from heading into the roadside trees, this time—Naruto and Sasuke would have no trouble finding him, anyway—and resigned himself to being humiliated in front of his siblings.


	19. And so it Begins

_coriolis effect: I never abandoned it… anywho, thanks, and I should hope it flows better with the real chapter 17! That was the whole point of putting it there!_

_tad: Thanks a lot! I appreciate the support._

_And so it Begins_

Naruto got a distinct sense of déjà-vous when approaching the outskirts of the village, and almost told Konohamaru to stop, but didn't, sensing nothing in the road ahead. He was somewhat upset, actually, as he'd been hoping that Gaara would be there like he had been 'last time'.

And Sakura was still on their tail.

Naruto groaned silently and grabbed his shorter 'follower', before heading up the same tree Gaara had used as a hiding place, and preformed his chakra-hiding _jutsu_ on the both of them.

Sasuke must have felt the flash of disappointment from Gaara's absence, because he showed up around the same time the pink-haired _kunoichi_ did. A few words passed between the two, then Sakura left smiling and Sasuke leaned back against the trunk of the tree.

_You owe me one for heading of Sakura, dobe. I am_ not_ doing that again._

Naruto jumped out of the tree and dropped Konohamaru to the ground, _Hey, I didn't do anything! It was _Konohamaru_ that set her off._

Sasuke snorted softly, "Oi, dobe," he called over to Naruto, acting as though they hadn't just been carrying on a conversation, "I need to talk to you."

Translation: Get the brat to leave.

"Fine, fine," Naruto turned to the Hokage's grandson, "Sorry, Konohamaru, but I've got to talk to the teme. I'll see you later, OK?"

"Promise?"

Naruto grinned, "Yeah, promise. Meet you at the Tower in… two hours?"

"OK!" Konohamaru took off, supposedly to find his friends and likely to come up with a new tactic for sneaking up on Naruto.

"All right, Sasuke… what did you want?"

_xxxx_

It wasn't long into the conversation when Naruto sensed something at the very edge of his range—something aside from Kakashi, who was coming from a different direction anyway. It felt like… sand.

Naruto started to grin and bounce on the balls of his feet, much to Sasuke's exasperation, even as Kakashi showed up.

"Ah, Naruto, Sasuke, about the Chuunin…. exams…" he trailed off, watching the bouncing blond with some trepidation before turning his gaze to Sasuke and raising an eyebrow questioningly.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and made a sound that could have meant anything. "Gaara appears to have arrived."

Never mind that Kakashi wasn't sure who Gaara was, yet.

"Can we go see him? Can we? Can we? Can we?"

Kakashi stared for a moment, "Naruto, how old are you?"

The Rokudaime pulled off an impressive display of 'puppy eyes'. "But Kakashi-senseiiii… I haven't seen him for _months!_"

"Fine, fine…" besides, he was curious about this 'Gaara' person.

"Yatta!" Naruto spun and bolted, Sasuke rolling his eyes and motioning for Kakashi to follow.

Naruto spotted Kankuro and Temari some way down the road and noticed the future Kazekage was actually walking with them. Said siblings were clearly wary of Gaara, which meant he'd attempted to keep things close to the same between them—Naruto was a little surprised they weren't more disturbed than they already were.

"Gaara!" He called happily, running toward his friend.

Gaara looked up at the sound of his name, slightly surprised that Naruto's chakra had escaped his detection, then groaned, calling on his sand.

The groan—not to mention the sand—got Kankuro and Temari to start backing away--anything that made Gaara show anything resembling _emotion_ had to be pretty bad.

Gaara braced himself, the sand settling behind him to reinforce his stance, as he couldn't get it to actually block the other Jinchuuri's 'charge'.

And Naruto tackled him in a bear-hug.

Even with the slight reinforcement the sand gave, Gaara was knocked off-balance, that same sand helping to right him and keeping its distance from the blue-eyed blond—as opposed to crushing him as Kankuro and Temari had expected.

"Naruto," Gaara growled, "Let. Go."

Pouting slightly, Naruto obeyed, "Oh, come on, you can't go through your entire life with no physical contact whatsoever, Gaars." He paused, "And why didn't you put up a sand-wall or something?"

Gaara kept a perfectly straight face as he replied. "My sand has betrayed me."

Kankuro and Temari started to get worried—if Gaara was losing control of his sand—

Naruto, on the other hand, laughed. "Your fuzzy friend's that scared, huh?"

Gaara sighed and nodded, casting a weary glance towards his siblings.

Naruto turned serious, scrutinizing Gaara's appearance. "You're not sleeping again, aren't you?"

Gaara returned that comment with a flat stare.

"All right, come on," Naruto grabbed Gaara's wrist and started dragging him down the road, "Oi, Sasuke!" _Can I take 'em to one of the Uchiha buildings?_

Sasuke dropped out of a tree, followed by Kakashi. _The main house has guest bedrooms._ Sasuke would ordinarily have protested, but he was with Naruto on this one. Gaara, while he could get by on far less sleep than the average human being, was a lot less irritable and a lot more stable when he'd gotten a decent amount of sleep—Sasuke was frankly surprised that the sand user hadn't responded to the nickname. The only times he could sleep properly were when the Kyuubi-carrier was around.

Shukaku's terror of the fox could come in handy, sometimes. Times like when Gaara wanted to avoid a hug… not so much.

_xxxx_

Though nearly dumbstruck with terror, Kankuro and Temari followed Gaara as Naruto literally dragged the sand-user down the street towards the Uchiha compound. They followed the two into the main house and watched in bemused horror as Naruto shoved Gaara into one of the guest bedrooms.

"Alright, listen up, Sandy," he said sternly, addressing Gaara's demon as opposed to Gaara himself. "I don't want to see your fuzzy face anytime within the next two days unless Gaara is in literal, physical danger, got it?"

Gaara could sense Shukaku retreating to the very furthest corner of his now-stabilized mental cage, whimpering.

Naruto then turned to leave, giving his friend a jaunty wave, "'Night, Gaara!"

Gaara gave something that might have been a shrug and slung his sand-gourd onto the ground beside the bed, then lay back and used his forced-sleep _jutsu_, finding a little humor in further confusing (and terrifying) his siblings.

_xxxx_

By the time Naruto got back to the sitting room, Sasuke and Kakashi were there--Kakashi looking very confused.

"Naruto, you have a cruel, cruel sense of humor."

Naruto gave the 'who, me?' look.

"Idiot; they don't know it's safe for him to sleep with you around!"

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, "What is going on?"

_xxxx_

Temari ventured out into the hall, leaving Kankuro with their brother when he showed no sign of being taken over by the demon, hoping to get some answers. When she heard voices, she stopped to listen.

_xxxx_

"That's Gaara. And his brother and sister. He's a Jinchuuri with a psychotic, mentally unbalanced demon-tanuki sealed inside him—I had to reinforce his seal a couple months ago when Shukaku got a second tail—and he's a complete and total insomniac."

"Why?"

Sasuke took on the next part of the explanation, as aware of Temari as he was sure Naruto and Kakashi were, so choosing his words carefully. "Even with the reinforced seal, Gaara cannot sleep for long without Shukaku attempting to take him over—though, with the seal, he wouldn't be able to do much, he can still cause Gaara some mental distress. However, Shukaku is absolutely terrified of Naruto and doesn't dare do _anything_ that might upset him. Therefore it is safe for Gaara to sleep with Naruto around… and Gaara is a lot nicer when he's gotten a good night's rest."

Temari's chakra signature retreated back down the hall and Sasuke smirked, "That said, he'll be the next Kazekage."

"Ah." So that's where he'd heard the name before, Kakashi mused.

"Thinking of which," Naruto began, looking rather thoughtful, "What about the Chuunin exams?"

"Ah. I… forgot to give you your registration forms… here." Kakashi pulled two papers out of his vest and handed one to each of the boys, then stood, "And I'd best give Sakura hers, too."

Naruto blinked at the door after Kakashi left, then looked at Sasuke. "Has Kakashi-sensei always been that absent-minded, or was it something we did?"

"Hn. Didn't you have to meet Konohamaru right about now?"

Naruto blinked, glanced at the clock, and swore. "I'm late!"

Sasuke watched him go with a smirk, unable to resist a parting jibe. _And you said _Kakashi_ was absent minded…_

_xxxx_

"You're late!" Konohamaru accused, caught between outrage and shock. Naruto was _never_ late.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Ano, gomen… I ran into a Gennin team from Suna and had to get them situated…"

Konohamaru inspected his 'rival' carefully, "Well… that's a good reason, I suppose…" he said doubtfully. "All right. But now you have to play ninja with us!"

Naruto agreed with a laugh and the four set out to 'play ninja'. That is, Naruto added a bit of extra training to the Academy students' regiment while calling it a game and convincing them it was fun.

Amazingly enough, it actually _was_ fun, even if it did get him odd looks from the other shinobi. The _Kunoichi_ thought it was cute. And so, Naruto spent the rest of his day playing with academy students and Sasuke babysat the Sand Sibs, while Kakashi tested Sakura on her skills before the first part of the Chuunin exams, starting the next afternoon.

_xxxx_

_Short chapter, I know. But I have no intention of making it longer—you'll get to see more in-depth reactions and interactions later. Meanwhile, I've got an interview to plan._


	20. Written Exam

_Random Reader: Uhhh… no. See, the whole point of this one is to _not_ be obvious. That—that would be obvious. Funny, but obvious. Which is probably why you haven't seen it in a story—it would only really suit a crackfic._

_Written Exam_

"Hey, no way. They're your siblings; you explain."

Gaara tried to glare, but Naruto had a point. He sighed—something he seemed to do quite often around the Kyuubi-host. Most people he could intimidate or threaten into submission (even if he did so less often than he had Before), but not Naruto. Never Naruto.

Not for lack of effort on Gaara's part, of course. They just both knew that anything Gaara tried should he attempt to _follow through_ on those threats would be rendered useless due to Shukaku's interference or Naruto's own skill. Usually the former.

Sasuke was keeping out of the little argument, watching with amusement as the other two members of the Sand Trio hovered in the doorway, obviously nervous.

"Fine. Kankuro, Temari, come here."

They obeyed somewhat hesitantly, not sure how to react to this new, less irritable Gaara. Once they were settled, Gaara fixed them with a _look._

"Do not tell anyone about anything I tell you here." And he fabricated a half-truth, an explanation that they would accept without raising _too_ many questions.

_xxxx_

The three 'returned' did not give Kankuro or Temari a chance to reconcile the new information—they had to get to the first portion of the Chuunin exams. Tardiness was not tolerated.

Come to think of it, that was probably why Gaara had chosen that particular time of morning _the day of the exam_ to tell them. He could put off the question-answer session until much later.

The five—Naruto, Sasuke, and the Sand Sibs—met up with Sakura at the door and Gaara's group peeled off, heading up the stairs ahead of Team 7.

"Sakura, you ready?" Sasuke eyed her carefully. She seemed a bit tired, but that shouldn't be much of a liability in a written test.

"Of course!"

"Good."

Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet, "Great! Come _on_ already!"

Sasuke glanced at him, slightly amused.

_What? I'm keeping up appearances!_

The response was projected skepticism.

Naruto huffed.

_xxxx_

"Kiba, I'm serious. Stay away from Naruto's team."

Shikamaru paused, glancing down the hall to where Kurenai was giving her team a last-minute warning—one almost identical to the one Asuma had given his own team earlier.

Stay away from Naruto's team. Be careful around Naruto's team. Not Team 7—Naruto's team.

As if he was somehow the team leader—or perhaps the most dangerous. What had the Jounin sensei so worried about Naruto's team? Or perhaps just Naruto… something was going on.

He sighed before following Ino and Choji into the exam room. "This is all too troublesome…"

_xxxx_

"No."

Sasuke's reply was cool and unconcerned.

Lee blinked. "But—why not?"

Sasuke spared him a flat look, "I have no need to prove myself to you, as you should have no need to prove yourself against me. We excel in different ways for different reasons; we should not be compared."

Lee's astonished sputterings shifted to a blinding grin, "Yosh! You are truly an ultimate rival! I shall—"

Naruto and Sasuke tuned out his impassioned speech with the ease of long practice, but Sakura wasn't so lucky. She found herself staring in a kind of morbid fascination until Naruto tugged on her arm to lead her away.

Team 7 left a 'youthful' Lee making an impassioned speech to an empty room, moving further down the hall to the actual exam room.

And into an undeclared battle-zone.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the tension in the air, then cast Naruto a smirk when he realized that _all_ the Leaf Gennin were looking at their team with a combination of confusion and wariness. _Looks like Kakashi blabbed to someone…_

Naruto scanned the room, spotting an irate Kiba being gently restrained by an unruffled Shino. _More like everyone. Oh, I'm gonna _kill_ him._

Sakura glanced at them, then back at the room, sensing a lot of ill-intent aimed their way. "Ano… did you two do something that I'm not aware of?" She indicated Shikamaru, who appeared to be eyeing Naruto consideringly.

"Not recently."

Naruto stifled an amused snort at Sasuke's tone, but the amusement vanished in a well of hate when blue eyes spotted a grey-haired Gennin headed their way, somewhat cautiously. Sasuke wasn't faring any better, and the fury built, reflecting from one to the other through the mind-link, slowly leaking out to fill the air around them with suppressed killer intent—until Gaara's sand wrapped inconspicuously around Sasuke's wrist and tightened sharply, jerking his attention away from the traitor.

Sasuke shook himself and glanced at his teammate, _Naruto. Not here. We can kill him in the forest._

The Rokudaime blinked and forced his rage back down, much to Kyuubi's disappointment, then cast Sasuke a slightly confused glance.

_Gaara snapped me out of it._

Naruto glanced down to see a thin trickle of sand running along the floor towards the redhead, and gave the other future Kage a small nod of thanks. They couldn't afford to blow their cover here.

Sakura let out a breath, glad that whatever had those two so worked up seemed to have passed.

It was a relief when Ibiki showed, snapping orders to get in their seats before Kabuto could reach the two boys—neither one of them was sure they'd be able to keep cool if he was within striking distance.

"All right you brats, listen up!"

_xxxx_

Kakashi glanced idly around the viewing room as he pulled his borrowed book from his pouch. The thing was a fascinating read. He noted Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, and… Hayate? What the heck was _he_ doing here? amongst the watching sensei. All right, so Hayate wasn't a Jounin-sensei…

Ah. Hayate was betting. That cleared everything right up. Wait… Hayate _betting?_ Was that normal?

Oh, well, so was everyone else, from the looks of things.

"Ah, Kakashi, there you are!" Kurenai offered him a slightly wary smile, "Care to join? We're betting on whose teams will make it—Ibiki is the head proctor for this test."

Kakashi didn't bother to look up from the description of a _jutsu_ that, if preformed correctly, would disorient an opponent for a good five minutes and (according to Naruto's notes) made them more of a hazard to themselves and their teammates than the one who cast the technique. "Ah, well, he's not going to hurt them."

Asuma made a slight sound, "That may be, but he's well versed in psychological torture as well."

Kakashi did look up at that, raising his one visible eyebrow, "And this should worry me because…?"

"A very hip and modern answer, Kakashi!"

Oh, he had been hoping Gai would stay out of this.

"But Gennin will not recognize what he is doing! He could cause psychological damage to your students."

Kakashi couldn't quite suppress his snort, "I'd be more concerned about my students causing psychological damage to _him._"

One of the Jounin he didn't know raised an eyebrow, "Surely they can't be that bad."

"Naruto's a lot like Anko… only less predictable… and he's starting to rub off on his teammates. Sasuke actually caught me in a prank and _laughed_ at me and Sakura… she's a terror." OK, so the bit about Sakura wasn't strictly true. She _could_ be a terror, but you had to annoy her somehow before she actually _would_ be.

"An… ko?" The Jounin shuddered, "She's worse than Ibiki!"

Kakashi half-closed his book, tapping it thoughtfully against his chin, "Although Naruto doesn't talk about blood the way she does…"

_xxxx_

_So, should we leave our tests blank or fill in all the right answers?_

Sasuke didn't glance in Naruto's direction, but a small smirk started playing about his lips. _How about _you_ fill in all the right answers and_ I_ leave my test blank?_

Naruto stifled a snicker, _Good idea. That'll throw them through a loop!_ _… Wait. Didn't you have to use your Sharingan last time?_

_Still can't answer on written tests, can you? I was using _Sharingan_ last time—I remember the answers._

_Oh. Right. Forgot about that…_ Naruto's response was understandably sheepish.

Both boys were somewhat surprised to realize the tests were being passed out—they had entirely missed the exam rules. Oh, well, they knew them from before.

Naruto picked up his pencil as soon as he got his paper, ignoring Hinata, who was sending him a curious glance, and started writing as Sasuke gave him the answers.

Halfway across the room, Sasuke took out his pencil and sketched idly on his paper for a few minutes before flipping it over and putting his head down on the table and pretending to go to sleep, still feeding Naruto the answers silently. As it was, Naruto was the first to finish filling out the exam, then he flipped his paper over and put his head down, too, joining Sasuke in feigned sleep.

Eventually, Kankuro got up to 'use the restroom' and got his answers (not that he needed them) and shortly thereafter, Ibiki called time for the last question.

Naruto repressed a very Sasuke-like smirk as he lifted his head and gave the head proctor a curiously innocent look—one that managed to actually catch Ibiki's attention through a slight flare of focused intent. Not killer intent, but Naruto's own prankster intent, something that warned of Very Bad Things to come.

Sasuke snickered, completely ruining the mood Ibiki was trying to set up… and Sakura caught on. The boys had warned her about this exam involving some kind of psychological testing if the proctors were any good at all—this must be it.

She decided she'd been hanging around Naruto too much when she got the very strong urge to join the rest of her team in picking on Ibiki.

Up front, Ibiki glared at the two offending Gennin, "This question is a pass or fail question. If you answer it correctly, you pass the test, regardless of your other answers. If you give the wrong answer, you fail the test."

Some brave soul, fully caught up in Ibiki's slight layering of killer intent (too slight for most Gennin to recognize what it was or where it was coming from—they would just register a growing sense of unease) asked a question. "So… what's the catch? There has to be a catch."

Ibiki gave a grin that made him look decidedly predatory, "If you fail, you can never take the Chuunin exams again. You will remain Gennin for the rest of your little lives."

"What!? But that's—" the thud of steel hitting wood silenced the protester.

"You can withdraw now to take the test again next year."

Even though they weren't able to see each other's faces without turning, Sasuke and Naruto pulled identical eyebrow-raises, slightly confusing the proctors who could see them. Neither commented.

Gennin started withdrawing, too intimidated by Ibiki's threats to stay, until they had roughly the same number of people left as 'last time'.

_Think we should stop this?_

Sasuke considered briefly, _There is no harm in keeping things as close to the original timeline as possible._

_Oh, good._

Sasuke snickered at the sense of wicked glee Naruto projected.

Naruto snorted, trying to suppress a laugh at Ibiki's expression and Sakura decided to join in.

"Can you believe this guy?""Forehead, are you nuts?!"

"Probably," Sasuke commented idly.

"Shut up, Sasuke, Ino-pig." She glared at Ibiki, "I've sat here quietly for the past 5 minutes after listening to you threaten us with being Gennin for the rest of our lives." Green eyes narrowed as she turned on the other examinees, "No one else leave," she roared.

Dead silence followed her outburst.

Sakura looked horrified for a moment, seeming to shrink in on herself, and Naruto took it upon himself to take the pressure off her.

"You tell him, Sakura!" Naruto whooped, "Now, why don't you give us that last question, Scarface?"

Ibiki's eye twitched.

Sasuke sighed theatrically, face-palming in mock exasperation, "You, too, dobe? You do realize that's our _interrogation expert_ you're talking to, right, Naruto?"

"Oh, he ain't got _nothin'_ on your brother, Sasu."

Sasuke choked, "_Sasu? ..._ Never mind." He turned his attention front, "I suggest you do as he says, 'Biki. Otherwise things may become… unpleasant."

_xxxx_

"Maybe Kakashi was right about those three," Kurenai said, eyeing Ibiki though the monitor—for all his near-expressionlessness, he held himself with a confused tension that warned that he was considering violence.

Kakashi gave the impression of smirking when Asuma glanced his way.

"Those three really are pretty bad," he conceded, watching with almost morbid interest as Sasuke _threatened_ Ibiki, who seemed to develop a constant tic in his left eye.

"Or maybe just suicidal."

"Though their teamwork _is_ impressive, for them to be able to shatter the mood that _Ibiki_ had set up without any kind of signals between them," the unnamed Jounin observed.

"Hm," Kakashi agreed, watching the screen as Ibiki gave up and declared a 'pass' for everyone left in the room. "They're a great team."


	21. The Second Task, Part 1

_Unknown: Thank you; you'll find out what's been told to the Sand Sibs as we go along; yes--Sakura has noticed that Sasuke follows Naruto's lead, but is likely in denial; one cannot teleport to a location unless one knows the location, so teleporting straight to the Sand Trio is out; not telling you about reactions or anything else that will come up in later chapters._

_AnonymousPerson: Thanks! Glad you like it._

_tad: Not sure about 'best line ever', but I will admit I couldn't resist adding it._

_The Second Task, Part 1_

_Anko should be here any minute now…_

Sasuke sent a wordless acknowledgement.

_Think we should do something about her entrance?_

There was hesitation, then a strange sort of half-acquiescence. _If Sakura does something, we should back her. Otherwise… it's Anko. It would only encourage her._

Sasuke could practically _feel_ Naruto's smirk.

_I know._

He spared a moment to wonder how he could have forgotten that Anko was merely a more bloodthirsty, female version of Naruto's basic personality. The blond _loved_ to get her riled up for just that reason.

And Anko made her—rather destructive—entrance.

Sakura's hand twitched towards a kunai before Anko started yelling, but the motion was aborted when it became obvious that Anko was Leaf and therefore likely a proctor.

Sasuke gave a snort of amusement at the disappointed 'pout' that washed over the link, inadvertently drawing Anko's attention—and kunai—to himself.

The kunai was intercepted by another mid-air, both clattering harmlessly across one of the empty desks, and Naruto was on the dais before anyone but his teammates realized it, another kunai held to Anko's throat.

Sasuke settled for raising an eyebrow, ignoring Anko's shocked and furious expression, "I could have handled that myself, dobe."

"Hey, you threatened Ibiki—it's only fair that I get Anko. Sakura can have Genki." He stepped back, placing the kunai in its holster before glancing up at Sasuke and raising an eyebrow.

Sasuke shrugged and threw two chakra strings at the kunai on the desk two rows in front of him, yanking them back up to his hands before throwing both pointy objects to their respective owners.

Neither commented and Naruto returned to his seat, a sort of stunned silence following him and remaining for several minutes more before Anko finally got her bearings. It wasn't often that Gennin caught her off-guard, after all. That's all it was. She'd been caught off-guard.

Anko cleared her throat. "Meet me at the entrance to the Forest of Death in two hours."

_xxxx_

Kakashi winced as many pairs of eyes turned on him, the general air in the room being something between incredulity and thinly veiled amusement or horror.

"What the hell have you been _teaching_ those brats?"

_xxxx_

_Can't kill snake-face, can't kill snake-face, can't kill snake-face…_ The words were repeated like a mantra over and over again.

"Naruto!" Sasuke snapped, drawing the eyes of not only his teammates, but the other Gennin nearby, "Will you _please_ cut it out!?"

The silent chant cut off. "… Ano… sorry, Sasuke."

Sakura shook her head, slightly exasperated, "I'm… not going to ask."

_Why do you keep saying you can't kill Orochimaru anyway?_ Sasuke switched to mindspeak.

_We aren't in the forest, yet, and he's only twenty yards away… do you have _any_ idea how tempting it is to just kill him and forget the rules?_

There was a slight pause and Sasuke grimaced, _When you put it that way… yes._

Neither noticed the way Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he watched team 7.

_xxxx_

The forest was nowhere near as intimidating as Naruto remembered it being—although, he had been much 'younger' the last time he'd been there. Now, it felt like home—though that might have had something to do with the fox-senses he was calling on at the moment.

"Got anything?" Sasuke asked tersely, aloud for Sakura's benefit.

Naruto tilted his head slightly, then shook it. _And there's no telling if people will be where they were last time,_ he added silently, _Too many variables could have changed._

A slight acknowledgement flitted through the link, then Sasuke straightened. "Should we try to meet up with Gaara? People will be less than willing to take on a six-man team, especially with Suna's own terror involved."

Sakura looked thoughtful, "That's not a bad idea," she said slowly. "But who's Gaara?"

"The son of the Kazekage," Sasuke stated. "He's a friend of Naruto's. His teammates are his siblings, so if you take on one, you take on all—and tick off the Kazekage while you're at it."

Sasuke failed to mention that, at the moment, Kankuro was relatively certain that his younger brother would kill him given the slightest provocation.

"How did _Naruto_ manage to make friends with the Kazekage's son?" Sakura asked.

Naruto looked insulted.

Sasuke smirked, "They have a few things in common." He paused, "Or not. Gaara's quiet, serious, and can be terrifying when he wants to be—and I wasn't kidding when I said he crushes people to death. The only common ground there is, is that the dobe can be damn scary if you tick him off."

"Gee, thanks…"

_You're being pretty quiet,_ Sasuke observed silently, casting a somewhat worried glance at the blond. _Are you all right?_

_I'm…_ Naruto trailed off, unable to honestly say 'fine', but not sure what was bugging him. _… not sure._ He admitted, shifting uneasily. _I guess I'm a bit on edge… something doesn't feel right._

Sasuke gave him a level stare, then turned away, "Let's get moving."

_xxxx_

Shikamaru led his team through the undergrowth just far enough to find a sheltered place between the trees to plan. Their options were limited—they had neither the Inuzuka's nose nor the Aburame's insects to track other teams, and they didn't have the third advantage of the Hyuuga's eyes to see any dangers nearby. Kurenai's team had a definite advantage in that aspect and would have an easier time on this portion of the test.

Of course, Naruto's team also lacked those advantages, though the Uchiha had the Sharingan and Naruto had obviously gotten _some_ kind of advantage, though what he had only vague suspicions. The Haruno girl would be no good for tracking, and, Sharingan or not, the Uchiha wouldn't be able to see everything around him like the Hyuuga would.

That would have left Team 7 as a possible target for the scroll… except that Shikamaru was not one to move before being able to see all of the opponent's moves… and Naruto was an enigma. Team 8 was out—no way would they get past Hinata's eyes. That left them with their only options containing unknown qualities.

Or… alliances. But who would ally with a new Gennin team that had been together only a few months? Especially one with no incredibly outstanding talents. There was _kage mane_ and Ino's mind-control, Choji's family specialty… but all those had severe limits. There was also Shikamaru's brain, but those were things that only other Leaf would know about.

Still, such an alliance had quite a bit of room for backstabbing involved, and he didn't trust any of the members of other teams enough to know they wouldn't turn on his own. Shikamaru sighed.

"What's the plan?" Ino asked, cutting through his thinking.

"Kurenai's team will be impossible to sneak up on and Naruto is an unknown. We need to find and ambush a weak team from either Grass or Sound."

_xxxx_

Team 8 had little trouble finding the perfect place to set up their ambush, with Hinata's eyes and Shino's talents with insects, they had little trouble bringing in an unsuspecting Sound team. Of course, their little plan left Kiba and Akamaru with nothing to do, but the simple efficiency with which they acquired their second scroll (thanks to Hinata, they could pick a team with it) was enough to placate him.

Now all they needed to do was get to the tower.


	22. The Second Task, Part 2

_timid: Um… I can't honestly answer that. I _think_ I was told to spell the way I did—as for 'Gaito', I think that's the Manga spelling—more 'visually pleasing'. I won't stake my life on that one._

_kyuubi's vixen: I'm going to state this for all to read—I'm not sure whether or not I have already done so—_I do no write pairings!_ At least, not romantic ones. I know I can't do it without ruining the rest of the story. And, even if I did, the Naruto/Anko pairing is not one of my favorites. I don't hate it, but I wouldn't write it even if I did write romance._

_The Second Task, Part 2_

"OK, _now_ I'm pissed," Naruto snarled, drawing on a thin trickle of the demon's chakra to augment his speed and turn his nails into glowing red talons to slice through the giant snake's spine, then bolting back along the path cleared by a massive wind _jutsu._ He'd been caught in it _again!_

Of course, the snake had barely slowed him down, this time, but that wasn't the _point._ The point was, he _knew_ it was coming and had fallen for it _anyway!_

_Naruto, hurry up! I can't take him alone!_ Sasuke's 'voice cut through Naruto's silent raging.

_On my way—just hold him off. He didn't pay much attention to Sakura last time, but send her to Gaara anyway if you get the chance._ Trees flashed by as Naruto bolted along the ground towards the rest of his team, _Ground or canopy?_

_Ground._ A flash of alarm, then a sense of pain quickly swallowed up by anger.

_Freakin' giant snake,_ Sasuke spat, probably not even aware he was projecting.

Naruto caught a flash of a _very_ big serpent lunging for his friend and poured on some extra speed— almost there.

_Canopy!_

So Sasuke got driven into the trees—not good. If he'd been in top form, Orochi's snakes wouldn't have stood a chance barring Manda herself, but, despite the nearly completed chakra merging, neither Naruto nor Sasuke was back up to their older forms' physical ability. Naruto could make up for that with Kyuubi's chakra, but Sasuke had no such advantage.

_Hold on!_ Naruto bounced from one trunk to another, higher on each leap, and caught the snakes snout with a clawed hand, slicing stinging lines through its protective scales.

A flash of gratitude, then warning shot through the link and Naruto dodged, flaring Kyuubi's chakra around himself to fend off the 'Grass Gennin's' freakish tongue.

"Come on, Orochi—That's just _sick._ Pedophile."

Sasuke snickered despite the situation.

"The Kyuubi brat?"

"Right. Well, I guess to take you on, I'll have to kick it up a notch." _Fuzzy… I need a tail._

'Fuzzy' complied and Naruto dropped down to all fours, a crimson tail of pure chakra blazing out behind him before he lunged for the startled snake-sannin.

Orochimaru ducked back, but didn't avoid the slashing claws completely and earned a thin gash across his cheek, then Sasuke blurred. _Keep him distracted—I'm setting up wire for the dragon-fire _jutsu_—I'll need him held still!_

_Right. Make it quick! I don't want to have to pull out another tail._ Naruto dodged a _jutsu_ he didn't recognize and shifted his stance, following Sasuke's silent directions to force Orochimaru into the wire.

_Good—Naruto, jump clear!_

With a smirk, he did as he was told and Sasuke yanked the wires taut, pinning Orochimaru's arms and forcing him to his knees on a wide branch, then ran through the seals for the _jutsu_. He released it wordlessly and fire raced along the wires, burning them into the snake-sannin's skin before the flaming dragon smashed into him, melting off the stolen flesh and leaving him in his natural, snakelike form.

"Damn. Still didn't work!"

It hadn't, but the man was shaken, his own face singed and burns across his right arm and chest.

_Better than last time,_ Naruto observed, lashing out with a chakra whip even as Orochimaru snapped the overheated wires.

The Otokage's dodge came a fraction of a second too late to completely avoid it—the whip bit a deep gash into his side, and he appeared to decide that discretion was the better part of valor—he started to sink into the tree below him.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Red chakra subsided and blue welled up, forming wind into a blade and slashing the branch free, denying access to the rest of the tree while Sasuke fireballed the remainder, forcing the sannin out.

"Sasuke!"

With few options left open to him, Orochimaru extended his neck, aiming to place a curse-seal on Sasuke, who channeled chakra into his hand, igniting pure flames in his palm as he dodged, bringing up the fire so that when Orochimaru bit down, he got a mouthful of flame.

He recoiled and dropped down to the ground, trying to flee a second time—and, this time, Naruto's retaliation came too late.

"You should have used _chidori._ Then he'd be missing most of his face, instead of just his tongue and part of his jaw," Naruto groused, irritated at the fact that one of his main targets had escaped. Naruto's targets weren't supposed to escape. Ever. He had a reputation to maintain!

"I didn't have enough time," Sasuke retorted, miffed. "_Chidori_ takes too long." He paused, considering the impressions through the link, then shook his head, "And you haven't _got_ that reputation yet, Naruto."

He ignored the comment on his reputation—or lack thereof. "Still, he's better than I thought he would be… can't give him enough time to improve more. It would be bad." Naruto staggered as he released Kyuubi's chakra, then rubbed his forehead with a grimace.

"You OK?"

"Yeah, fine."

_Say that again._

Ah. Of course—Sasuke would never take his word for that unless inability to lie was guaranteed.

_Sasuke, I'm _fine. _I just dropped the chakra too fast and the vision-switch was kind of weird._

No lie. _Weird? Weird how?_

_Kind of like looking through moving water—ripples. It happens every time I stop using Kyuubi's chakra like that—it's not dangerous. It just looks weird._

Sasuke accepted the explanation, then glanced sideways at his teammate. "Think we should find Sakura?"

"Yeah… which way did you send her?"

"Towards Gaara."

"Riiight…"

_xxxx_

It took them a while to find Sakura, but when they did, they found Gaara and his siblings as well. Gaara was patiently restraining the frantic _kunoichi_ with his sand, trying to explain that the surge of 'Naruto's freaky chakra' as Sakura called it, was not a cause for concern and that her teammates were probably fine.

His brother and sister were staring at him like he'd lost his mind.

"We're here!" Naruto hollered, jumping down from a tree with Sasuke close behind.

Gaara was visibly relieved and immediately turned the pink-haired terror loose, leaving Sasuke and Naruto to deal with the fallout.

Mostly Sasuke, thanks to lingering remnants of a _very_ big crush. He was first hugged, then smacked, and Naruto was also heavily berated for making her worry.

Sasuke responded with a trademark 'hn' and Naruto managed to look rather like a kicked puppy, which immediately made Sakura feel bad about hitting them.

Gaara broke up the mini-reunion. "Orochimaru?"

"Aa." Sasuke glowered and Naruto grimaced.

"He got away."

"But he was badly injured," Sasuke added. "Even with Kabuto's help, he will be unable to fully recover unless he uses his body-switch _jutsu._"

"And if he does, he will be unable to take _you_ for another three years," Gaara realized aloud.

"He wouldn't get me anyway," Sasuke smirked, tugging at his shirt to expose the side of his neck, "He missed."

Gaara's lips quirked into a real, if slightly devious, smile. "Very good," he congratulated.

Kankuro and Temari exchanged puzzled glances, but didn't dare question their brother with him acting so… different from his norm. Sakura, however, had no such fears. "Orochimaru? Kabuto? What are you three going on about?"

"Ah, yes," Naruto said wisely, "We haven't told you yet. Kabuto is a traitor to Leaf, and loyal to Orochimaru—you know, that Sannin that went traitor right after the Fourth was made Hokage?—who happens to have recently murdered the Kazekage and has been impersonating him for the past several months in an attempt to get Sand to attack Konoha, but Gaara isn't too pleased with this. So… we thrashed up snake-face pretty good, and, without Gaars, here, Sand doesn't stand a _chance_ against Leaf." Naruto glanced at his friend, "No offense, Gaara."

The redhead shrugged, "None taken."

Sakura eyed her teammates and Gaara suspiciously, "How do you know all this and why haven't you told anyone?"

"Oh, _that'd_ go over well. 'Hey, Ojisan! The Kazekage is really your traitorous student come back to kill you and destroy Konoha—and, you know, he doubles as the Otokage and all the Sand and Sound you've let into the village are our enemies. Oh, and, just so long as we're on the topic, that medic-nin Gennin who's taking the Chuunin exam for the seventh or eighth time? He's a Jounin-level working as snake-face's spy.' Right. Even the old man wouldn't believe me on that. And who would Gaara tell? Orochi's posing as the _Kazekage._ And the Kazekage is completely in control of his village. Can't accuse him of _anything_ without some _really_ solid proof."

Ok, so Naruto had a point. "That doesn't tell me how you found out about this."

Naruto winced, then shrugged. "Sorry, Sakura. That's an SS-class village secret. Can't tell you."

Incensed, she opened her mouth, then closed it again as Sasuke shook his head at her. "He's telling the truth. I wasn't supposed to find out, but once I did… well. They would have executed me if Naruto hadn't convinced the Hokage to let me work with him."

"Oh."

"No offence, Sakura, but… you have a reputation of saying things without thinking. Right now… I don't think we could protect you. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not." Naruto shifted uneasily at her glare, but held his ground.

She subsided with a huff, realizing that Naruto was right, though she didn't like it.

Gaara decided it was a good idea to change the subject, "Are you two going to go after Kabuto?"

Sasuke's grin was just as bloodthirsty as Naruto's—or Gaara's usual. "Oh, yes."

_xxxx_

_So this ends off kind of awkwardly, but I had a lot of trouble with this chapter and it's the best I've been able to manage. I hate to admit it, but my inspiration is starting to dry up. I _will_ finish the story, I swear, but it would be easier if anyone has suggested reading in the Naruto arena. It would be most appreciated._

_Even so, there will probably not be any updates this coming week. I've got minor surgery and refuse to write while on pain meds that will mess with my mind._


	23. The Second Task, Part 3

_A Reviewer: I'm glad you appreciated it. I tried, really, but it didn't make any sense. Neither did my English paper… and I honestly don't remember any of those two weeks except when I was walking. It was _bad._ You'll never see it. Heck, I wish _I_ hadn't seen it._

_niner: Thanks! I'm inclined to agree with you._

_gravitation gig: Glad you like._

_isis ishtar: Well, I'm glad someone thinks so. Glad you liked it, and I'm all better, now._

_lonelyreverance: Thank you! Sorry it took so long to get this up. Some things—school and travelling—came up._

_The Second Task, Part 3_

Kabuto was remarkably easy to find. He showed up on his own (probably on Orochimaru's orders). Naruto resisted the urge to slaughter him on sight.

Sasuke had no such compunctions—he had Kabuto pinned down with ninja wire so fast that it seemed to materialize by itself.

The false Gennin found himself slammed back against a tree by biting steel wires that wrapped all the way around both him and the tree trunk. He struggled fruitlessly for a few seconds before subsiding, his glasses hanging slightly crookedly on his nose. "You rookies are pretty good," he admitted, "but things are going to get a lot tougher from here on in. The smart ones are going to be setting up ambushes around the Tower—teams making their way there will be worn down and easy prey. Besides, you guys only have one scroll—there's no way you'll be able to take out a well-prepared team."

"Thinking of teams," Sakura drawled, remembering Naruto and Sasuke's obvious hatred of this traitor, "Where's yours?"

"We separated," Kabuto said smoothly, sounding remarkably relaxed for someone tied to a tree, "I've got my team's scrolls, so I was just going to dodge the traps and meet them near the tower. It's easier for one person to slip through unnoticed than three."

Naruto snorted, "And you're telling us that you've got scrolls? What happens if we decide to just take them from you?"

"You may be pretty good," Kabuto gave that slightly mocking smile, "but I've got more experience than the three of you combined." He slipped out of the wire as though he were made of smoke, a smug air about him. "I'm willing to help you guys, because you _are_ just rookies, and Leaf, so I feel like I should keep you alive, but I'm not just going to let you have my scrolls."

"You're right," Sasuke agreed, strangely placid.

Sakura gave him a startled glance, but Naruto read the intent in Sasuke's mind and did nothing.

Kabuto smiled.

"We're _Leaf._"

The smile faded slightly at the tone attached to 'Leaf', suddenly a little less sure of himself.

"And you, Kabuto, are a Special Jounin… from _Sound._"

Kabuto's eyes widened and he reached for a kunai—this could not get out if he was to still be useful to Orochimaru-sama. But Sasuke wasn't quite finished.

"And you know what, Kabuto?" his stance shifted to a 'Dance of the Snake' position designed to attack from, "We're _not_ letting you get away this time."

The gray-haired traitor was caught off-guard by the familiar stance, but moved to defend anyway—and was hit from the side when something orange-and-black materialized out of thin air right next to him, thrown strait into Sasuke's harsh _taijutsu_ attack.

The boys were _angry,_ fighting with fists and feet instead of quicker, deadlier methods.

_Get his scrolls!_ crackled like static across Naruto's mind as he out-and-out wrestled with the larger ninja. Naruto pulled a kunai and put it through Kabuto's chest before taking his scrolls and moving away.

_Burn him,_ Naruto ordered, his mental voice completely emotionless. He'd burned out his anger in beating the traitor to a bloody pulp—there was no satisfaction in it.

From what could be sensed from Sasuke, the Uchiha felt the same way. This vengeance was empty—Kabuto had no idea what it was for, beyond being a traitor to Leaf, as he hadn't actually _done_ any of it, yet.

There was no guilt over killing him—they knew _exactly_ how many lives his death saved—but no pleasure, either. Naruto and Sasuke watched dispassionately as the medic-nin's body burned to ash.

Sakura remained silent, unnerved by the short but _violent_ display of her teammates hand-to-hand abilities. She'd seen them spar before, going close to all-out, but there had always been a conscious holding back, just enough to keep from really hurting each other. She'd even seen them hold their own—alone or paired—against Kakashi or Zabuza, but, again, there was no real intent to hurt. And she'd noticed that always, _always,_ when another Gennin came around, they dropped their skill-level to something more reasonable for their age.

So, she'd kept quiet about her teammates abilities, knowing that, for whatever reason, they wanted them kept secret. She actually felt a bit flattered, knowing that she was the only Gennin that they trusted to know about what they could do.

But this… _this_ was ugly, and brutal, and _deadly._ Using only their hands and a single kunai between them, they had _killed_ that… Sound Jounin? Someone of that level…

Naruto and Sasuke scared her when they did that. _Really_ scared her, though she knew they wouldn't hurt her, it was terrifying to know that they could and _would_ kill without any hesitation or regret. They were ninja, true ninja. They'd tasted blood and death, tasted and dealt it, and they'd only been Gennin for a few months.

Not for the first time, Sakura wondered if this was really the right profession for herself.

"Sakura?"

The pink-haired _kunoichi_ blinked, realizing her teammates had been trying to get her attention for a while, now. "Sorry," she muttered, looking down.

Sasuke took a step back, giving her a little breathing room, "Let's head to the tower. Gaara and his brother and sister should meet us halfway there."

Naruto took the silent prompt from Sasuke and hung back slightly with the shaken girl, "Sakura-chan?"

She looked up, slightly surprised. He hadn't called her that since the day they'd graduated the Academy. "Yeah?"

"Are you OK? We got a bit… nasty back there."

She nodded dejectedly and Naruto gave her a less-than-believing glance.

"I just… I'm not sure I'm cut out for this," she admitted, biting her lip and glancing at her blond teammate, who was still splattered with Kabuto's blood. "I saw you, and Sasuke…" she looked away, "I just don't think I can do that. I don't think I can… kill."

"You can," Naruto stated, knowing from the future it was true, "You will. When things come down to the wire, and you have to protect us… you will. But you won't like it." Naruto sighed, "I'd really rather if you never had to kill, Sakura. And there are other kinds of ninja… you're our medic. We're supposed to protect you, so that you'll be able to patch us up after our fights. You'll never have to do much killing…"

Sakura stared at the unusually philosophical boy, then shook her head and gave a small smile. Even if it was a little strange, it still made her feel better to know that Naruto believed what he was saying.

_xxxx_

Gaara was waiting patiently (which unnerved his siblings) for Naruto and his team to show. Which they did, with Naruto smelling of blood not his own, and Sasuke scowling like he had as a real twelve-year-old. Even Sakura was frowning.

Gaara decided not to ask.

Kankuro and Temari exchanged nervous glances as Naruto wandered in their brother's direction, and Gaara brought up a bit of sand in a kind of hazy curtain around himself, close enough to his own body that Naruto couldn't possibly find it threatening, but would definitely see it.

"Naruto," Gaara stated, by way of greeting. "You reek of blood. Kabuto's blood, I believe."

"Right." Naruto grimaced sheepishly, belatedly remembering the tanuki's bloodlusting tendencies. "Sorry. But there really isn't much I can do about that right now."

Gaara nodded and turned away, beginning to walk towards the tower.

Naruto grinned a little at the very… 'Gaara' method of saying he was ready to go and followed cheerfully.

Sasuke shrugged and jogged to catch up, Sakura exchanging a slightly bemused glance with Gaara's siblings before they did the same.

_xxxx_

The group of six had, predictably, been left well enough alone after a team was obviously and messily squashed by Gaara's sand in plain sight of Team 10, the Sound Trio, and two scouts from other teams.

Kankuro and Temari were oddly relieved at the event—Gaara had, at least temporarily, sated Shukaku's bloodlust.

"Gaara," Naruto groaned, dropping his head into his hands, "That was a _Mist_ team, not a Sound team…"

The red-headed Jinchuuri paused, then shrugged slightly. "I can't do anything about that _now,_" he complained. "They sprung a trap, I defended. I only expected Sound to be that… straightforward."

Sasuke shook his head, "Gaara…" he trailed off, realizing that the former-future Kazekage was still on hair-trigger from the war and Mist had never attacked either Sand or Leaf. Sound had. Quite often, actually. "Nevermind."

"Let's just get to the tower," Naruto began to herd Gaara in the proper direction, "And try to avoid any more Desert Funerals… they're just gross."

Sakura agreed wholeheartedly with that assessment and was very glad when they reached the tower with no further confrontation.

_xxxx_

Like the 'last' time, there were a few too many surviving contestants from the practical exam. To cut the numbers, they had preliminary matches.

The matches did _not_ match up with the last ones. Mostly, anyway.

Temari and Kankuro got Shino and one of the remaining Mist Gennin, respectively. Sakura got Ino—there _had_ to be some higher power up there playing with those two—Sasuke got Kiba, which Naruto couldn't stop snickering about. Until he found out his pair-up, anyway.

Naruto got Gaara.

_xxxx_


	24. The Prelims

_mikachan: Pretty much, yeah. But, hey, it was about time to stir things up a bit._

_The Prelims _

The room went silent upon hearing the match-up, as word of the slaughter in the forest had spread quickly. Most of the Rookie Nine was staring at Naruto with varied expressions of pity or horror.

"That's a problem," Sakura observed from the stunned expressions on her teammates faces. "Can Naruto beat Gaara's sand?"

"Uh…" Naruto glanced at an utterly expressionless sand wielder, then back at the room at large. "No comment."

"No comment?" Sakura stared at her usually cocky teammate, "Why?"

Naruto shrugged carelessly, ignoring the attention from other parts of the room. "Well, if I say 'no', you'll try to get me to forfeit the match. If I say 'yes'… I don't even want to go there."

It was an odd answer that earned Naruto an eye-narrowing from Shikamaru. Naruto was slightly flattered to notice that—not much got through Shika's laziness. On the downside, it meant that he (and probably his team) was being watched by the young genius. Not the best thing for protecting secrets, was having Shikamaru's attention. He _always_ found out.

_xxxx _

Temari and Shino faced off in the arena, the wind manipulator uncertain of the Aburame's abilities. They weren't well-known outside of Konoha, for the simple reason that very few faced off against them and lived to tell about it—which meant she had no idea what to expect. The boy on the other side of the field was calm, collected… and his face was mostly hidden with a high collar and sunglasses.

Of course, Shino also had no idea what to expect from his opponent, but his clan placed high value on logic. He would not show doubt. To show doubt was to lose half the battle in sanctioned matches such as this.

"Begin!"

Temari took the fan from her back and snapped it open, then waited. If she could just get her opponent to make the first move, she could get an idea of his strength. Unbeknownst to her, Shino had already made the first move, releasing some of his flightless kikai onto the ground before raising a hand slightly to loose some into the air, all with orders to drain the Sand Gennin's chakra.

_Bugs?_ Temari jumped back, swinging her fan at the small swarm. Even without pumping any chakra into the 'blow', the bugs were blown off-course. Undeterred, they zipped back towards her—and she hit them with a _real_ blast of wind, sending stunned insects into the wall.

The blast of chakra-enhanced air had eaten up more of her reserve than expected, and Temari glanced down to see several dozen insects latched on to her pantlegs—she jumped back and smacked them off with an undignified yelp. She'd never admit it, but she disliked insects intensely, at least when they were _on_ her. With a sharp flick of her wrists, she used her fan to send the thin line of approaching ground-bound bugs flying, then brought it back around to send a blade of air at Shino.

Shino dodged easily, but couldn't get close enough to face off against her with taijutsu. He frowned behind his collar and sighed. There was no help for it—this was a match he just didn't have the ability to win. Not without different tools than what he had on hand.

He stopped, calling his kikai back to himself as he raised a hand, "I concede."

Temari shrugged slightly. "Smart move. It really was a bad match up—you could probably handle my older brother."

Shino inclined his head, accepting the compliment for what it was, ignoring the outraged protest from the stands that cut off almost as quickly as it began. (Gaara disapproved of his brother's outburst.)

Kankuro's match was slightly longer, but anything but interesting. He simply let his opponent wear himself out against his puppet—the only thing the Mist Gennin had going for him was poison, which the puppet, naturally, was immune to. It ended when said Mist Gennin got too tired to dodge and received a puppet-fist to the face.

Sasuke's match ended as soon as it began—Kiba never stood a chance. _I'm disappointed,_ Sasuke thought idly.

_It was to be expected,_ Naruto replied, somewhat to the Uchiha's surprise—he hadn't realized he'd projected that last thought. _He's just a Gennin. You're at least Jounin level, even in that body._

Sasuke sent the mental equivalent of a shrug and looked down at Akamaru, who was currently pawing at his master's shoulder anxiously.

"He'll be fine. He'll wake up with a bit of a headache, though."

The puppy was only mildly reassured and Sasuke was struck by how tiny and helpless he seemed—the Akamaru he remembered was even bigger than Kuromaru, almost large enough to ride. He shook off the images crowding into his head as medics took Kiba off the field in a stretcher, the little white puppy trailing along behind.

_Naruto…?_

Sasuke asked silently as he returned to his seat beside the blond, ignoring the lazy gaze of Shikamaru as another match started.

A sideways glance and a flicker of question washed over him.

_Do you really think we can save them? _

Naruto's gaze sharpened, then his shoulders slumped. _Honestly… I don't know. But we're sure as hell gonna try._

_xxxx _

"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Subaku no Gaara!"

By mutual consent, the two made their way to a common staircase before heading down towards the arena. "You realize that Shukaku will not allow me to fight you," Gaara stated flatly.

Naruto grimaced, "Even if I said it was fine?"

"I will… try."

Naruto nodded, "We don't want this to be… too easy. And, honestly, we _both_ need to make the next stage of the exams."

"That will not be possible."

"Pessimist," Naruto teased as he made his way to one side of the arena while Gaara headed for the other.

"Realist," Gaara retorted.

Aside from the near-bickering, they were perfectly calm as they took their places.

Genma glanced from one to the other, then shrugged. "Begin!"

Almost experimentally, Naruto tossed a few kunai in his friend's direction, making sure that the ultimate defense was at least somewhat in play. He was pleased to see the sand swirl up to block, Gaara standing impassively with his arms folded.

"Well, that much works," Naruto said, almost to himself, though Genma and the nearer spectators heard well enough. "But can he block _this?_" Naruto launched forward, noting the way Gaara's eyes hardened in concentration as a wave of sand crested out to block the blond's attack.

Naruto growled and pushed out a wave of blue chakra, smashing the sand off to either side all too easily. Even without him touching Kyuubi's chakra, Shukaku didn't want Gaara proving himself a threat. _Damn tanuki._

Apparently Gaara agreed, because he grimaced and raised the sand in a loose sphere around Naruto, with just enough of an opening at the top to let light in, forming words into the inside of the sand.

Naruto responded by drawing out about half a tail of the fox's chakra and combining it with his own, before blowing the whole mess outward to demolish the sphere and send Gaara flying, another sphere appearing around the redhead to take the brunt of the blow.

Naruto charged the thick sand-shield and it parted beneath his blow, which he pulled just shy of Gaara's head. The sand-wielder dropped his defense and bowed his head slightly, "I yield."

"Damn tanuki," Naruto muttered, just loud enough for Gaara's ears to catch. The irritation in his voice caught Shukaku's attention and the tailed beast panicked, flinging up a near-solid ball of sand around its host, despite Gaara's protests. His—at least in the instant before the sphere closed—_audible_ protests.

It was about then that Kankuro and Temari realized that it wasn't Gaara's respect for Naruto that had the demon-host so much more relaxed—it was his _demon's_ outright terror of the blue-eyed blond.

Naruto snarled something only audible to those in the ring—and Sasuke, who had the privilege of the headache-inducing mental edge of it—and the cocoon slowly dissolved, revealing an irked Gaara who used his sand-_shunshin_ to get back to his siblings. Naruto shrugged slightly and followed suit, reappearing beside his teammates in whisper of wind.

There was a very long silence after that.

Finally Genma cleared his throat. "Next match… Hyuuga Hinata vs. Tenten!"

_xxxx _

The match between Hinata and Tenten was short, expectedly so. Tenten was a mid to long-range fighter, while Hinata had to be up close and personal. Unfortunately, while Hinata had power and skill, she lacked confidence, and was too unbalanced by her father's blatant favoring of the older Gennin's power. She never got close before Tenten hit her with a vicious attack of unleashed shiriken, small enough to do no permanent damage, but more than enough to knock the younger girl out.

Genma called the match, and moved on to the next.

_xxxx_

The next several matches almost weren't worth paying attention to—Neiji and Lee were both good enough that their fights didn't last long and most of the others were unimpressive at best. It wasn't until the final match that Naruto and Sasuke got interested again.

It was the one that they had been most interested in—probably Gaara as well. Sakura against Ino—it would be interesting to see how much this match changed due to prior interference on the boys' parts.

For one, Sakura's hair was still long. She'd not been placed in a position to have to cut it. For another… Sakura had a great deal more training and stamina this time around. Privately, Sasuke thought that Ino didn't stand a chance, though he's never admit it aloud. Sakura might take it as a declaration of interest—and he did _not_ want her reverting back into a fangirl.

Sasuke was right. The fight was almost embarrassingly short—Sakura knew about Ino's clan _jutsu_, and it was ineffective in a battle situation or fast-paced spar. What with how hard they'd been training Sakura, Ino just couldn't keep up. Literally.

The pink-haired _kunoichi_ waited until the blond had started to initiate her technique and dodged, leaving Ino in a very awkward out-of-body experience that ended with a major migraine.

Missing _sucked._ Ino would personally attest to that fact—and did, as she forfeited, unable to see clearly from the force of the resulting headache.

_xxxx _

"That went well," Naruto gave Gaara an apologetic glance and toned down the false cheer, "Well, mostly."

Gaara shrugged, unconcerned. "One of us had to lose."

Gaara's siblings were astounded at his easy acceptance, but Sakura smiled at the redhead. "I'm just glad you're taking it so well. You could have beaten almost anyone there."

"Anyone," Sasuke corrected. "Except Naruto."

"Yeah," Naruto sighed, "That drawing sucked… Too bad I didn't get Kiba…"

Sasuke shook his head slightly, "Let's get something to eat and head home. We'll have to figure out training tomorrow."

_xxxx _

_ Um… tell me if I'm murdering anyone's character… Here's about when my knowledge of cannon runs out, past what I've read in fanfiction, and quite a few characters are only just introduced at this point. So, if something seems OOC—TELL ME! I _will_ go back and fix it, no matter what has to be reworked for the sake, so long as I've got no more than one chapter further than the one where I need to fix something. _


	25. Suspicions

_Blanket Reply to Anon. Reviews to my note: Thank you for being (mostly) supportive. And even those who expressed disappointment are appreciated—I'm glad you like my story enough to complain when I say I'm going to leave it off for a while._

_Suspicions_

Shikamaru was lying on his back beneath his favorite tree, staring up through leafy branches at the ever-changing patterns of wispy cloud in the sky. His mind, however, was not on those clouds.

_That Sand-Gennin… why did he do so poorly against Naruto? He crushed an entire Mist-team with no trouble, but barely put up a fight against the dead-last of Konoha. And what was that purple chakra of Naruto's in the middle of the match? I've never seen human chakra that color before…_

Whatever was going on, it was clear that the Jounin-sensei had a reason to warn them away from the blond and his team. But what had gotten them to do it?

Shikamaru sighed, glaring at a helpless branch. "This is all so troublesome…"

_xxxx_

"All right! We're all going to train together, like it or not!" Naruto's near-shout had Kankuro and Temari sending worried glances in their brother's direction, and they were relieved (and a little surprised, despite recent events) to note that he seemed indifferent to the announcement.

Sakura shook her head and Sasuke snorted, "Dobe."

"What? It'll do them some good to learn a few new tricks. And Sakura could learn a few of Temari's—she's got the control for it."

"Not the affinity, though," Sasuke pointed out. "You're the one with the wind affinity—Sakura's earth, remember?"

"And you're lighting, and Gaara's fire, and Kankuro is earth. So what? I don't think Temari is a wind-element, either, really. Isn't she fire, too?"

"How am I supposed to know? And isn't Gaara earth?"

"No, Gaara's fire. Shukaku is earth. Kinda like I'm wind but Kyuubi is fire, so I can use both. And you can train to be just as good with any other element as you are with your affinity—it's just easier to learn your affinity, and it takes a little less chakra to use. It doesn't make you _better_ at it."

Sasuke sighed a bit, ignoring the amused look he was receiving from Gaara and the blatant puzzlement from Sakura. "How is it that you know all this and _still_ managed to nearly fail the Academy?"

"Hey, you know as well as I do that my grades were sabotaged. I figured I might as well only work as hard as the grades I'd be given regardless. Anyway, we need to make a training schedule, and work out who's learning what from whom—yes, _whom_ Sasuke, don't give me that look. I _do_ know proper grammar, you know."

"Very well," Gaara broke in before turning his green gaze to his brother. "Kankuro, you will train with Naruto—_without_ your puppet. You need to learn how to manage without it. Temari, you will work with Sakura. Teach her smaller versions of you fan-jutsu, so that she will have a few… surprises for her opponents."

"Right," Sasuke agreed, "Sakura, you should help Temari with her control—she wastes more chakra than she needs to when swinging that fan around. Naruto… try not to beat up Kankuro _too_ much. We do want him to learn, after all."

Naruto nodded, suddenly serious. "That leaves you and Gaara. Endurance training, the both of you—Gaara's got a good bit of chakra endurance, thanks to Sandy, but needs to work on physical endurance. And Sasuke…" _Try and figure out if you can switch your Sharingan back to three-tomoe instead of always having it Mangekyo… that thing wastes all sorts of chakra._

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" _You forgot the part about 'ruins your eyesight'._

_Did not—you haven't been showing any signs of that._

Sasuke blinked. Now that Naruto mentioned it… he hadn't. _Huh. That's… odd._

The silent conversation was broken by twin thumps to their respective heads, courtesy of Sakura. "Quit that, you two! It's annoying."

"Uh… heh, heh, sorry Sakura…"

"I'm not," Sasuke said unrepentantly. "That was a private conversation that needed to be held."

He got another whack for his troubles.

_xxxx_

Kakashi was getting a bit frustrated. He'd been looking for his team, as all three of them had passed their prelims, for the past _three hours._ He'd not been able to find any trace of them.

He spotted Kurenai and her team—none of them had passed, but they were back to training already as none of them had been severely injured. "Kurenai," he greeted.

"Kakashi! It's nice to see you," she said politely, indicating to her Gennin that they could rest for a while. "Where is your team?"

Kakashi sighed dramatically, "I haven't a clue," he waved a hand at the forest beyond the training ground, "I've been looking for them all morning."

"_You_ can't find them?" Red eyes blinked disbelievingly.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, his visible eye closed in an abashed smile, "We did quite a bit of training in disguising or hiding chakra signatures and now I can't sense them unless I'm already within three feet. It's a bit embarrassing, really. Could you help me?"

"I guess you really _can't_ find them," Kurenai muttered before raising her voice, "You want _my_ help?"

"Well, yours and your team, really. They don't have to rely on chakra signatures…"

The Genjutsu master laughed, "You'll owe us a favor for this, if everyone agrees."

_xxxx_

Two hours later, Kurenai was starting to understand why Kakashi had asked for help. There had been no trace—and it wasn't as if Team 7 was inconspicuous.

Then Akamaru started barking and Kiba went pale. He turned to his sensei, looking vaguely sick, "Akamaru says he smells the dobe—with that kid from Sand."

"Hinata?"

The girl activated her bloodline and nodded faintly. "I see Team 7 and the Sand team… it looks like they're training." A trace of disbelief echoed in her voice. Sure, the Sand Gennin had lost rather spectacularly to Naruto, but why would he need to train? They'd _seen_ what he could do…

"I see. Kakashi?"

Kakashi gave a shrug that could have meant just about anything. "Aa, well… Let's go see, then."

Kurenai almost told her team to wait there, but decided to let them follow if they wanted as she joined her fellow Jounin in the direction her Gennin had indicated.

_xxxx_

"**Sasuke!** What have I told you about that blasted Sharingan!?" Naruto yelled across the clearing, sounding irate.

The sparring match between Gaara and Sasuke stopped, as did Sakura's session with Temari. Kankuro _still_ wasn't sure how to react to the apparently MPD orange-and-black kid that his brother's demon was afraid of, so was more than willing to halt his own training to observe.

Sasuke winced as Naruto in 'Hokage Mode' stalked across the clearing. "Sorry, Naruto."

"Don't do it and you won't _have_ to be sorry, teme. Turn it off and try again. You need to learn to do this _without_ those cursed eyes."

"Hai." Sasuke wasn't going to argue that. He'd been placed in situations where his Sharingan was rendered useless before and Naruto was right. It was better to learn things the normal way—it resulted in a fuller understanding, among other things.

Suddenly Naruto's 'Hokage Mode' got crossed with his 'Kyuubi' and 'Prankster' modes.

Sasuke started to get a bit uneasy.

"Actually," Naruto drawled, a very Kyuubi-influenced smirk crossing his face as he deliberatly flashed his eyes red for a moment, "I've got a better idea."

ANBU Captain or no, Sasuke did _not_ like the sound of that.

Naruto's hands flashed through seals he didn't recognize and a flare of purple chakra swamped Sasuke's vision.

It didn't leave.

"What the—Naruto! What is this?" Sasuke shook his head, reaching up to touch the _thing_ hampering his vision. It felt hot, almost burning his fingers, while against his eyes it was merely warm.

"Chakra blindfold," the Rokudiame sounded smug, "You can't take it off by normal means and won't be able to use any of the usual dispelling techniques on it—unless, of course, you manage to outlast me'n'Fuzzy's combined chakra." He paused for effect, "Now start again."

Sasuke could _hear_ the smirk. "Sometimes I really hate you, Naruto," he informed calmly, even as he turned to do as ordered. So long as Naruto was serious—and, despite the method of applying the blindfold, he _was_ serious—Sasuke would do it. And, he admitted grudingly, probably learn from it, too.

Naruto laughed.

Sasuke, predictably, snarled.

Naruto only laughed harder.

Temari cast a confused glance towards her training partner, and Sakura shook her head. "Mind link. I think Naruto heard something Sasuke didn't want him to."

Temari decided not to ask.

Gaara wasn't so reserved. He erected a temporary sand-pen around his blindfolded opponent and turned an inquiring gaze on Naruto. "Could you repeat the _jutsu_ fo this… mind link?"

Naruto blinked. "I—maybe—but I was trying to get rid of a chakra overload—"

"What does that mean?" Sakura asked, slightly puzzled. It was a problem she hadn't haerd of before.

"Ano… my chakra was building up too much, too fast. The _jutsu_ for the mind-link is… dangerous. To the user. Because of how much chakra it requires." Which meant he could still do it, now that he could handle most of his full reserve, he and Sasuke (and probably Gaara, though he hadn't asked) only needed to siphon off extra chakra avery few days, and then only if they hadn't been using any. But Sakura didn't need to know that.

"And you did it anyway?" Sakura demanded, her voice rising to a near-squeak halfway through.

"Well, I had to drain off all that chakra _somehow._ And it worked, didn't it?"

She shook her head, glanced at the blindfolded and sand-shrouded Sasuke, and sighed. "I suppose."

"Great! Now get back to work!"

_xxxx_

Kurenai frowned at the nearest tree when she felt Kakashi dampening his chakra down to almost nothing, as though he was on a mission into hostile territory. "I think you and your team should wait here until I've assessed the situation."

Red eyes sharpened with alarm as they flicked towards the white-haired Jounin. "Is it that dangerous?"

Kakashi shrugged one shoulder, turning an oddly serious gaze in the direction of his team. "Naruto and Sasuke… they're good. And Naruto… well. You don't want to be against him when he's serious—Sasuke's bad enough. For a Gennin, even Sakura's pretty good—maybe even low Chuunin."

"Why do I get the feeling that Sakura is not the best in your little crew?"

"Gaara of the Sand is easily Jounin level. _Easily._ When he's _not_ paying any attention, he can take on a small army of Chuunin and _crush_ them. Literally. When he _is_ paying attention, he could do the same to a much larger army of _Jounin_. I believe he could take on the Hokage and win."

"He's the one Naruto faced?"

Kakashi gave a short nod. "He can do those things… because he is Jinchuuri to Shukaku, the Demon of the Sand. And he cannot fight Naruto because Shukaku fears him—and his tenant. So he takes out his bloodlust… elsewhere." He kept his voice low, so that Kurenai's team wouldn't hear from their position further back.

Kurenai looked a bit dubious. "And you're trying to sneak up on them?" she shook her head, "I don't think that's a very good idea, Kakashi. My team said that a Mist team snuck up on them during the practical… and that Gaara kid killed first and asked questions later."

"Naruto has already introduced me under the 'kill and die' list. Besides which, I make a habit of trying to 'sneak up' on my team. They'd be _less_ likely to recognize me if I wasn't masking my chakra."

Kurenai made a noncommittal sound and shrugged. "Fine. But if you get yourself killed, I won't be held responsible."

Kakashi turned a happily squinted eye in her direction briefly before vanishing to the north.

_xxxx_

As soon as he was out of sight of Kurenai and her team, he slowed down and frowned slightly. He had the feeling he'd said too much to the Genjutsu mistress—undoubtedly she would be getting even more suspicious.

Kakashi winced slightly, knowing that his team—especially Naruto and Sasuke—would not be happy at having to deal with a closer watch. Less so with their Jounin sensei for getting them into that mess in the first place.

Well. Time to face the music.

_xxxx_

_I live! More quickly than expected, too. Aren't you proud of me? Well, I'm switching this in, so I don't know if it will show up as a chapter alert, but at least it's written. And posted. At any rate, the next chapter may be a bit of time in the making—I've got school piling up._


	26. A Word too Many

_Hello! For those of you who have not noticed, the last chapter (formerly an author's note) has been properly replaced with the actual chapter. I suggest that you read it before trying this one—things will make a good deal more sense. I warn you that this chapter is not very… active, but there is a bit of information that will be referred to later on. Bear with me._

_A Word too Many_

Three heads simultaneously came up and turned south, one still blindfolded by light purple chakra. The other three occupants of the clearing—Kankuro, Temari, and Sakura—froze and twisted around to see what had caught the attention of their more paranoid teammates.

A yelped curse from the direction they were all facing resolved into a one-eyed, silver-haired Konoha Jounin's head. Everything below the head was encased in sand.

The sand suddenly whirled outward into a ring, dropping a very startled Jounin at an angle less than six inches from the ground. He had no _time_ to even attempt a recovery and ended up landing rather ungracefully on his rear.

Gaara smirked.

Naruto laughed outright, and Sasuke scowled, sending an irritated thought at his still-hyper Hokage before his lips quirked upwards at the projected memory.

"Very graceful, Kakashi," he complimented, sounding perfectly sincere.

Sakura burst into giggles at the half angry, half embarrassed glare Kakashi sent at her former crush—before the glare melted into confusion at being faced by a boy whose face was half-covered in a glowing mask of chakra.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked cautiously, "What on earth…?"

Sasuke growled—_growled!_—at him, making no indication that he intended to respond.

Baffled and more than a little edgy, the Copycat Ninja glanced around at the other faces in the clearing, hoping for some sort of explanation. Most eyes flickered in the direction of an all-too-innocent blond, while a certain pink-haired _kunoichi_ smothered an amused smile.

Dark green eyes narrowed slightly beneath a soft fall of short red spikes, the expression _daring_ Kakashi to try and ask their owner. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Kakashi scrambled to his feet, suddenly uncomfortable with being in such a vulnerable position in the presence of the Sand—whatever he was. Gennin-Kazekage-Jinchuuri.

Naruto took pity on him, laughing. "It's a blindfold, Kakashi. For training." Blue eyes swept the clearing, "Sasuke, Gaara—get on with it. Kankuro, join Sakura and your sister. Kakashi and I need to have a little _talk._"

Kakashi cringed.

_xxxx_

"Kakashi-_sensei_…" Naruto purred, a distinct tinge of _threat_ to that feral sound, "You've been _talking_."

Kakashi eyed the blond currently circling him lazily, like a shark that knew its prey had no chance of escape. Blue eyes had turned crimson-flecked lavender, pupils stretching into calculating slits.

Kakashi gulped, extremely tempted to turn tail and run back to Kurenai, knowing that Naruto—no matter how irritated he was—would not risk what was left of his cover just to berate him. On the other hand, that would mean he'd be even more irritated later, and Kakashi couldn't avoid him (or Sasuke) forever.

"I haven't!" he protested, perhaps a might too vehemently.

"Oh? Then why is it that most of the Konoha Jounin-sensei have told their teams to keep away from mine?"

Kakashi desperately tried to think of a reason for his fellow Jounin to pass along such warnings—then he remembered. "Oh, no. No, no, no…."

Naruto's lips curled into a smirk that he _had_ to have learned from Sasuke. "So. It _was_ you."

Kakashi was beginning to feel something that could only be described as 'panic'. He hadn't _panicked_ in so long that he'd forgotten what it felt like. "Naruto, I swear I didn't mean to—"

"Didn't mean to _what?_ What the hell did you tell them?"

Kakashi winced a bit, "That you beat Zabuza."

Silence stretched between them for several moments and Kakashi shifted uneasily. Naruto's face was shuttered, his expression and stance completely impossible to read. Which, at this point, could mean almost anything.

Quite deliberately, Naruto closed his eyes, forcing back anger that he knew would not help this situation in the slightest. When he opened them again, they had returned to blue, though the pupils were still stretched into slits. They focused in on a suddenly very nervous Jounin.

"I'll deal with you later," Naruto stated calmly, a forced calm he had learned during years of war and dealing with accidental slips of the tongue that could endanger far too much. "Right now, I need to go speak with Sasuke and Gaara. You will think of anything—_anything!_—else you may have said. To _anyone_. Is that understood?"

Kakashi nodded mutely and Naruto left without a backward glance.

_xxxx_

_Naruto? Naruto, what's wrong?_ Sasuke's mental voice had been battering around the edges of his mind for several minutes, now, trying to break through unreasoning anger and whirlwind thoughts.

The blond in question shook himself and focused in on the near-frantic voice. _Sasuke._

_Finally! What the _hell_ is bothering you so much that you ignore me for _four_ minutes?_

_Kakashi messed up. All right, so we _knew_ Kakashi slipped somewhere, but _all_ the Jounin know I beat Zabuza—and I'm pretty sure that's not the end of it. Once the Council gets wind of this…_

_Oh._ Sasuke winced enough that Gaara tilted his head, frowning as Naruto returned to the clearing and removed the 'blindfold' with an absent wave of his hand. "Gaara," he paused, considering. Sent a thought to Sasuke and gave a slight nod at the answer. "Sakura. We need to talk—and Gaara?"

Green eyes met blue questioningly.

"Your siblings?"

Gaara considered briefly, then nodded.

"All right, then," Naruto straightened up and flashed through several handseals, setting up a privacy ward around the clearing. "Everyone—I think it's about time we told you what's going on."

_xxxx_

"Well, that… clears a few things up," Sakura said slowly, going over all the information she'd just received.

Kankuro and Temari exchanged glances and agreed—now they knew why Gaara's homicidal tendencies had died down.

"We have already drawn unwanted attention to ourselves," Gaara stated, not pointing out that most of that was the fault of Naruto and Sasuke.

"Yeah," Naruto grimaced. "Mostly my fault. I've never been very good at hiding my abilities."

"I didn't help, much," Sasuke offered, wanting to take some of the blame.

"Yeah, but the Council's not gonna pay much attention to that, except maybe to give you a pat on the head. They'll be screaming for my blood—especially the Hyuuga and that idiot Danzo."

"Unfortunately for all of us, Danzo's not an idiot," Sasuke said dryly. "Aggressive to the point of sedition, but not an idiot."

"Mm," Naruto murmured, disagreement thrumming along the bond.

Sasuke ignored him for the moment, choosing instead to focus on the task at hand. "We need some ideas for damage control—ideas that _don't_ include a lot of sand and death."

"I'm not _that_ bad," Gaara protested.

"No," Sasuke agreed blandly, the faint smirk on his face belying his tone. "You're worse."

Gaara gave a mock glare, actually glad for the teasing banter as it took the overstressed edge out of Naruto's eyes.

"All right, that's enough," Naruto informed them. "First, we need to come up with a plan—and there's got to be a way to bring at least one of you into the mind-loop. That would help with the secrecy—but right now, we need to work out a few things with our allies." _Sasuke, think you can get Kakashi here?_

Sasuke gave a short nod and headed out, earning several odd looks.

Sakura decided that was another of the silent-talk things and turned her attention to the final part of that statement. "I'm guessing we can't just tell the Hokage and be done with it."

Naruto shook his head, "No. He'd ask questions that we're not prepared to answer."

Gaara leaned back against a curtain of sand that appeared specifically for that use, "If your Council truly does call for your blood, perhaps you should give them a taste of your demon's power. It would teach them to remember what a _true_ demon is… and that you are capable of harnessing that power if need be."

Naruto made a noncommittal sound, "If I tip my hand too soon… Orochimaru knows I can harness one tail. He does _not_ know I can handle more than that—I'm hoping I won't have to show more than one tail until he actually calls on the invasion, assuming he still believes you are on his side."

Gaara nodded slightly. "As soon as Sand sees that I am against them—and I will be restraining any Sand-nin I can catch when the invasion is called—I'm relatively certain Kankuro and Temari can convince them to attack Sound with Leaf. Either they agree, or I kill them. And you and Sasuke will have to handle Orochimaru yourselves."

"Orochimaru's not the main problem at the moment. I'd rather _not_ make myself an enemy of Konoha—I'm still Hokage, whether or not they know it. I have a responsibility to my people. As soon as Sasuke gets Kakashi back here, we can start trying to work things out."

_xxxx_

Kakashi made his way back to where Kurenai and her group were waiting, greeting them with a slight nod.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Fine," Kakashi said distractedly, fishing through his pouch for Naruto's book as he mentally listed off all the various things that could possibly be considered 'too much information' that he'd passed on to the other Jounin. He wasn't used to having to keep secrets from his own village, less so his peers.

He also wasn't sure if he should point out to Naruto the number of things _he'd_ done that could give hints that he wasn't the same. After ten or fifteen years of difference, it wasn't surprising that the boy's memory of what he could and couldn't do as a twelve-year-old was a bit fuzzy.

Of course, finding a way to tactfully _tell_ him that was another thing entirely.

Kakashi was so distracted by his thoughts that he nearly started when Kurenai tapped his shoulder, demanding attention. "Kakashi."

He turned one not-quite-disinterested brown eye on her. "Kurenai."

"What's got you so worked up, Copycat?" The hard-earned nickname was put forth in an attempt to relax the man.

"Hmmm… just something one of my Gennin said. He's having some persecution issues that I don't know how to help him with." That gave away Naruto, but took attention off of his 'newfound' abilities. It could also be used as an excuse for his previous and current behavior—if Naruto passed off his former lack of skill as attempting to stay under the radar enough that the teachers would allow him to graduate in hopes of him getting himself killed… then, when put in dangerous situations, he'd have to drop the 'idiot' front just to stay alive.

Kakashi turned the idea over in his mind—it had merit, but would need a _lot_ of fine-tuning and the collaboration of at least Iruka to pull it off, if not the Hokage as well. The only problem with that was that the Hokage didn't have any idea what was really going on… but they had to get up some kind of excuse, because by the next council meeting, Naruto's abilities would have reached the Clan heads.

"What did he say?"

Kakashi let his half-lidded eye open the rest of the way and favored Kurenai with a slightly affronted glare. "Kurenai, I wouldn't ask you to tell me anything one of your Gennin told you in confidence, and I would ask that you show me the same courtesy." Had he really just said that?

Kurenai blinked, astonished. "R-right. Of course. I'm sorry, Kakashi."

Kakashi gave the red-eyed woman a short nod before letting his attention drift to her Gennin, who were watching with ill-concealed interest. Before he could comment, though, Sasuke—sans glowing purple blindfold—dropped down beside him with only the barest whisper of sound.

Kakashi wasn't the only one to jump.

"I hate to break this up," Sasuke savored the shock in the expressions of both Jounin and Team Eight, "but Kakashi, we've called a team meeting and you should probably be there if you don't want Naruto to turn your hair green."

_xxxx_

_Bit of a filler-chapter, granted… does anyone volunteer to read partially finished chapters of mine so I can bounce ideas… and possibly write a bit faster? Because I could really use someone to bounce ideas off of._


	27. Plans Aside

_I'm _alive!_ Or possibly undead. Still, for all you wondering whether or not I've given up on this, rest assured—I have not._

_Plans Aside…_

"Now that everyone's here…" Naruto looked around at the group before turning to Gaara and raising an eyebrow.

Sand pulled up out of the earth around them, forming into a solid dome imbued with Shukaku's demonic chakra—better than any privacy _jutsu_. Sasuke responded to the sudden darkness with what had been affectionately dubbed the 'flashlight technique'. Keyed up and loaded with chakra, it could blind the Byakugan or the Sharingan temporarily, but at low power it acted like a table lamp.

Kakashi blinked at the hovering ball of light, "I haven't seen that technique before."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "It's a floating ball of light, Kakashi. Not generally something that would be thought of as useful in a fight." _Unless you happen to be Naruto,_ he added silently, sending a wry grimace in the blonde's direction as he remembered the first time _he'd_ seen it.

He'd been blinking spots out of his eyes for _days._ No one but Naruto would have thought of mixing Wind and Lightning—the two were fundamentally incompatible, Lightning notoriously weak against Wind, often nullified by contact with an opposing technique that was in all other ways equal. That very nullification process let out a lot of light… and chakra. _Blinding_ to chakra-sensitive vision and temporarily stunning to ordinary sight.

"Flashlight technique aside," Naruto cast a quieting glare in Sasuke's direction, dropping into something the Uchiha thought of as 'Serious but Non-Lethal Mode', "We need to talk. Kakashi, have you thought of anything else we should know?"

"Kurenai's got suspicions, but she trusts me. She shouldn't think you're a threat—and I told her you were worried about 'persecution issues' when she asked."

_Vague, but in essence true,_ Sasuke noted silently.

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, "We may be able to play that up—claim I've been holding back or that I learn quickly once I'm not being deliberately sabotaged."

"You do," Gaara said dryly. "_Kage bunshin_ in under a day?"

Sakura wasn't the only one to turn around and look at him.

"You learned _kage bunshin_ in under a day?"

"Hey, I had a lot more chakra than I knew what to do with—it was basically the same as the regular _bunshin_, except it takes about a hundred times more chakra. So it was easy," Naruto scowled suddenly, "Can we get off my _jutsu_-learning ability and back to the original conversation?"

_**It is part of the original conversation, kit,**_Kyuubi's voice piped up in the back of Naruto's head for the first time in days. _**Are you not looking for ways to explain your 'sudden' advancement to the Konoha Council?**_

_Kyuu-kun!_ Naruto sent back happily—and loudly.

Sasuke started, "Gah," he grimaced, raising his hands to rub his temples, "Don't _do_ that, Naruto! _Kuso,_ that _hurt!_"

"Sorry. Anyway… anyone have any workable ideas?"

"Only one," Kakashi actually seemed alert and interested. "But we would need Iruka's cooperation."

Naruto tilted his head, "… Right. I knew I forgot someone."

_xxxx_

Simple and just shy of believable, Kakashi's 'plan' was best one they had. Without the Sandiame's knowledge, it was a bit… shaky. And Naruto held to the belief that Sarutobi couldn't be told—too much would be changed. As Hokage, he wouldn't be able to simply stand by without trying to set up a method of defense that Orochimaru would be sure to notice with his Konoha spies. Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara didn't know all of them.

Iruka was more than happy to help, but there was still no sure way. The explanation was modified to 'hid his abilities in the Academy and has been learning exceptionally quickly since he's been getting proper instruction'… with the possible addition of 'he really can't do a regular clone'.

Maybe, _maybe_ the Council would buy it. Sarutobi would probably use the explanation as a way to keep them off Naruto even if he demanded another explanation in private anyway.

They hoped, anyway.

If not, there was always Gaara's suggestion…

_xxxx_

_Now that we have those… ideas,_ Sasuke sent somewhat delicately, walking with Naruto at the top of Hokage Mountain. _We have a few more things to plan out._

_Yeah,_ Naruto leapt up into a nearby tree to lounge on a large branch, _You know, this would be a lot easier with Shika involved…_

_Don't I know it,_ Sasuke grimaced and leaned back against the trunk of the same tree, not looking up at his partner. _Hell, it would be easier if we could get _all_ of the Rookie Nine involved. Maybe Lee, Neiji, and Tenten, too._

_But we can't predict how they would react at this point in time._

Sasuke sighed and straightened, pacing a few steps out to watch the village below.

… _It might be worth the risk._

Naruto landed beside him, eyes on the same peaceful village, seeing it overlayed with smoke and flame and blood and ruin, knowing Sasuke envisioned the same.

"It might," he confirmed aloud, unable to keep the choked rasp from his voice.

_Use every advantage,_ Sasuke reminded silently.

Naruto gave a short, sharp nod. _We'll talk to the others. They should have a say in this._

It was Sasuke's turn to nod, a faint smile playing over his lips at his own, private thought. Naruto let his people choose whenever he could, never using his power for power's sake.

_xxxx_

It was agreed, somewhat cautiously, that bringing in a few more allies was a good idea. Shikamaru would undoubtedly be able to help come up with a working plan to keep the Council, if not precisely off Naruto's case, at least from being able to have him executed.

Not that Naruto would allow that. It was a well-known fact that he _would_ protect his people, even if he had to go missing-nin to do it.

Shino would be a valuable ally as well, his calm, logical reasoning added to his natural tendency to observe and the spy-network his 'allies' made up complimented Shikamaru's tactical thinking well when it came to manipulating groups of people on a more political front. Ino's clan techniques were wonderful for gathering information that otherwise could not be gleaned from unofficial enemies, and Hinata would soon become strong with the knowledge that her crush believed in her.

Kiba and Choji weren't as potentially useful in the current situation, but given advance warning on the upcoming invasion and some hard training, they would make a good supplement to Naruto's close-range combat abilities, as would Hinata's Gentle Fist. Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Ino would handle mid-range with Shino, Kankuro, and Temari providing long-range and distraction. Similar combinations had served well during the war.

Hopefully it would keep them all alive during the invasion, but first they needed to get the group on board, and possibly Kurenai and Lee's team.

Once decided, the group agreed to round up the Rookie Nine and the _genjutsu_ mistress the next day before dispersing.

_xxxx_

_**I still think we should use Shukaku's host's suggestion.**_

Naruto blinked at the sudden intrusion on his thoughts, nearly falling off the classroom wall he was currently sticking to in an attempt to improve his chakra control—having his reserve size shoot up was all well and good, but it wreaked havoc on the fine control he had taken years to acquire. Which meant he was back to overloading techniques and once again unable to create an illusionary clone… not to mention the few _Genjutsu_ he knew were out of the realm of possibility.

On the up side, it would be virtually impossible for a Hyuuga to close his _tenketsu_.

_**Are you listening to me?**_

Naruto snorted out loud, getting Iruka to glance up from his paper-grading. _How could I not? You're talking in my head._

_**The fox-hair's idea was far superior to the one-eyed scarecrow's. Why do we not use it?**_

_You _would_ like that, wouldn't you? We are _not_ threatening the Council. It's a great way to get in serious trouble._

_**Why not? Even only using two tails you could destroy them all,**_ Kyuubi pointed out reasonably. Or, reasonably from the giant demon's point of view, though he recognized his wayward kit might not think so, being mostly human.

"Kyuubi," Naruto sighed, shaking his head, "That's not the _point._"

Iruka's pen slipped from his grasp as his head whipped around. He'd thought Naruto was speaking to Sasuke again, but the named address proved him wrong.

The sharp clatter as it hit the floor reminded Naruto of where he was. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei. The big furball's wondering why I don't want to take Gaara's suggestion and beat the Council into submission."

_**It worked for him.**_

"Quiet, Fuzzy," Naruto glared in the direction of his stomach before returning his attention to the disturbed teacher. "_He_ thinks it's perfectly reasonable, but I'm not sure whether he's thinking like a fox or thinking like a demon. Either way, it really isn't that simple."

Iruka was completely at a loss. He'd known, rationally, that Naruto was in contact with the thing that had killed his family, but he'd not really realized what that meant. The fact that Naruto was _talking_ to it—and it was talking back—proved that it was an intelligent… demon.

Had it been a mindless killing machine, it would have been easier to let the fact that it had slaughtered his parents go. "Naruto," Iruka asked suddenly, completely without thinking, "Why did Kyuubi attack Konoha?"

Naruto _did_ fall off the wall at that, caught off-guard by the question. He landed on his feel and sat down cross-legged on the floor, frowning. He'd never thought to ask that.

He turned his attention inward when he realized that the great demon had stilled. _Kyuu?_

Red-gold eyes stared down at him as he entered the mindscape, the demon possessing them seeming baffled. Finally the giant fox tilted his head, his ten tails lashing uneasily. _**I… do not know. I remember very little of that day… just rage. As you felt the first time you used my chakra, the day the ice-boy and the water-swordsman died.**_

Naruto sat down, frowning. "I get the feeling that that's not normal."

_**Not exactly. It is normal for one not accustomed to a high level of emotion-powered chakra, but we fox demons are less susceptible to blind rage than most. The fact that I fell to it… something must have happened, but I cannot remember **_**what**_**.**_

Naruto turned that over in his mind several times before sighing and climbing to his feet. He willed himself back out of the mindscape and shook his head, blinking away the sting from over-dried eyes.

Iruka was crouched in front of him, looking worried and slightly guilty, no doubt thinking he was the cause of the sudden unawareness, "Naruto? Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I went down to talk to the fox face-to-face. He felt pretty upset when you asked…"

Iruka frowned at that, sitting back on his heels. Demons could feel upset? "Why?"

"He doesn't know why he attacked," Naruto rubbed a hand over his face, expression troubled, "He only remembers being in a blind rage, which is unusual for fox-demons. Something really, really bad must have set him off, but he can't remember what—and you can't lie inside a mindscape, so he's got to be telling the truth."

Iruka opened his mouth, paused, and stood up to pace. He wasn't sure _what_ he was feeling. He had lost himself to anger on a mission once—that was the mission when he made his first kill—when a teammate had been injured. Blind rage he could understand, to a degree. It was better that hearing that the demon had merely felt like a mass slaughter and done so with glee.

But it would have been… not 'nice', exactly, but he wished he knew the reason. Why his parents—his clan—had been killed.

"Does he regret it?" he asked finally.

Naruto's eyes clouded again with what Iruka was beginning to recognize as retreating into the mindscape, probably wanting to be able to watch the demon's expression while carrying on a conversation.

_**Once I did not, **_ Kyuubi sat up, regarding his host, his kit. _**What are the lives of humans to the life of a demon? From your point of view, it is similar to the lives of mayflies in comparison to your own. I have lived many thousands of years, yet your kind lasts little more than half a century on average. I have nothing against humans as individual creatures, but I regretted the deaths no more than you would regret the swatting of a mayfly. A passing thought, at most.**_

He flicked an ear and arranged his tails around himself, _**Now, though… I do not regret the deaths of the humans, no. But I do regret that my actions caused pain to those you care about… and to you. I have grown fond of you, kit. I regret any hurt I have caused you and yours... though I do not understand your desire to aid those who have desired your death for so long. If I could go back and know who was precious to those precious to you, I would not kill them, but to do so is impossible. I must work within the bounds of the seal—I can go no further back than the moment of my sealing.**_

_**I do not regret having been sealed in you. Not anymore. Not now that I have seen the world through your eyes, your perspective. You are rather persistent. It has been an… interesting experience.**_

Naruto slowly straightened up from where he sat against the wall, closing his eyes with a mild grimace. "I really need to remember to close my eyes _before_ I do that," he muttered, tilting his head back to thump gently against painted plaster.

"Naruto?" Iruka wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but when Naruto told him, he found he felt a little better.

_**But I still like the sand-boy's suggestion best.**_

Naruto snorted, shaking his head at the great furball's desire for a little havoc in the Council's next session.


	28. The Plan: Step 1

_This chapter is a bit of a filler, but a necessary one. Sorry it took so long to get this up, but between my friend getting a blood-clot in his brain and having a stroke, my snake getting stolen, and a couple of gang-fights at my job, plus a nasty case of the flu… my 'vacation' wasn't much of one. I had planned to get some writing done, but other things took precedence._

_Um… one of my anon. reviewers pointed out something that I honestly hadn't noticed. The blood-seal I had placed on Sasuke (ironically) matches the one on Alphonse Elric's armor in FullMetal Alchemist. That was unintentional. What my actual thought-process was started out with seals stamped on sealing wax—round. So, outside circle—that and circles are used to symbolize connection and/or commitment. (Wedding rings, promise rings… the simple lack of end to a circle…) The interlocked triangles were a breakdown of the Star of David, which had, before being adopted as such, been a symbol of balance, rather like a yin-yang. The shepherd's staff—I know some sheep farmers and like quite a few of the Old Testament stories as well as the teaching-tales. A shepherd's staff is symbolic of guidance and trust._

_I may have put _way_ too much thought into that, but I couldn't help it. Although the coincidence makes me wonder where the idea for the one in FullMetal Alchemist came from…_

_x_

**The Plan: Step 1**

The details, as it were, had been worked out—now all they had to do was implement the plan.

As if it were that easy.

Still, Shikamaru _was_ alone up on that hill, and he obviously suspected _something._ Why not start there?

_Naruto, quit balking. What's the worst that could happen?_

A moment after the irritated thought had been sent, Sasuke—down trying to find Shino without arousing any suspicions along the way—really wished he hadn't asked. Between Naruto and the furball, the answer came in video with surround sound.

_You know, I could have done without seeing that just before going to find the guy with bugs under his skin._

_Hey, _you're_ the one who asked,_ Naruto sent back defensively.

_And you are undoubtedly wrong. Just go get him._

Naruto sighed, but did as instructed without protest. It _had_ been his idea, after all…

Chakra hidden and footsteps silenced out of sheer habit ingrained by years at war made it so the lazy genius didn't notice the Rokudaime until the shadow fell across his face.

"Shikamaru. We need to talk."

_xxxx_

Shikamaru considered what he'd just been told, frowning slightly. While it _did_ explain some of the things he had noticed… Time travel?

It didn't seem possible, and yet… And yet. He liked tactics, logic, and puzzles falling into place. This… the pieces of this strange puzzle matched up. It _made sense._

Troublesome.

"Oh, right," Naruto's voice cut through Shikamaru's thoughts.

He glanced up just in time to see a clone flicker into existence before shimmering slightly and becoming a small fox. The fox immediately turned and ran for the village, apparently in response to something Naruto had remembered.

That was the last thing that cemented Shikamaru's belief. To create a clone without handseals—not to mention have the _clone_ disguise itself as an animal—and have a complete lack of smoke and fanfare outside of the slightest of flickers… That took a level of mastery that no one their age—not even Jounin their age—could pull off. It took _practice_ to be able to do that, years' worth of practice.

"This is very troublesome."

To his surprise, a quiet snort came from Naruto's direction. Soon the attempt at stifling amusement was abandoned, and Naruto was leaning back against the tree, chuckling helplessly. "Same old Shika," he managed, shaking his head. "It's good to have you back."

_xxxx_

Sasuke smirked a little as Naruto's joyful amusement leaked across the link, then moved in to corner Shino. It had taken him _years_ to perfect the technique for hiding from the Aburame's Khikai, but it all paid off in that moment when Shino actually _jumped_ and let his sunglasses slip half-off when Sasuke tapped his shoulder for attention.

Sasuke carefully kept his stoic mask in place, though what he _really_ wanted to do was break down and laugh.

"Shino. I have something I'd… like to talk to you about. Is this place safe from Khikai other than your own?"

Sasuke sensed the narrowing of eyes as Shino readjusted his sunglasses and added on to the question. "I would prefer that you were to hear this _before_ deciding what or how your clan should be told. You, I trust to know how the other Aburame would take this… I do not know many from your clan."

Shino nodded, an infestismal incline of the head, and several insects crept out of his sleeve to fly off. "They will ensure that no one else hears of this conversation until after I have heard what you have to say."

"Thank you," Sasuke leaned back against the tree nearest him and examined the Aburame Gennin for a few seconds, recalling everything he could about the quickest ways to convince him of something, then began.

_xxxx_

Sakura rounded up Ino for a 'girl's talk'. The secret, she would leave to the boys to explain, but Naruto had been adamant about the need to build and _keep_ strong friendships.

"So what's all this about, anyway?" Ino asked suspiciously.

Sakura shook her head, "Naruto said something to me that made me think… I don't want to be rivals anymore, Ino. I want to be friends again."

Whatever Ino had been expecting when she'd met Sakura on the Academy rooftop, that most definitely wasn't it.

But it wasn't unwelcome, either.

"No more fighting over Sasuke?" Ino asked.

Sakura smiled, "No more fighting over Sasuke."

Ino eyed her for several seconds before abruptly pulling Sakura into a quick hug. "I think I'd rather be friends again, too."

_xxxx_

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouted, running up to the now-frozen girl. "Hey—can I talk to you for a bit?"

_Naruto…_

He blinked, splitting his attention between the Hyuuga heiress and the voice in his head. _What?_

_At this point, Hinata still had a rather large crush on you. And she hasn't learned to… well, be the little demon we remember. You could have approached this better._

…_?_

A mental sigh, _Then again, knowing you… maybe not._

"H-hai, Naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered, pressing her fingers together nervously.

"Really?" Naruto blinked, trying to equate the timid child before him with the confident Jounin who had spent perhaps a bit too much time in the company of her sensei's friend—Mitarashi Anko. She'd never gotten out of practical, modest dress, but the Hinata he remembered had a _temper._

_You see?_ Sasuke sniped.

_Yeah, yeah, I get it._ Naruto grinned at the pale-eyed girl, "Great! But… Hinata, this is really important, so we should take it to one of the training grounds."

"Oh… A-all right."

_We have _got_ to introduce her to Anko _soon.

_No arguments here._

_xxxx_

The Naruto 'clone' fox—currently controlled by Kyuubi, who was having more fun than he'd had in years—ran up the side of the Hokage tower, dodging ANBU-thrown kunai and aiming for a familiar window. The small red fox darted into the Hokage's office and skittered sideways, using a touch of combined human and demon chakra to keep its balance on the smooth floor, and leapt up onto the desk, scattering papers.

A snarl and a snap sent a certain crystal ball shattering on the floor—Kyuubi knew he'd be scolded for that later, but it wasn't as if the thing couldn't be replaced. Besides, exercising that kind of long-distance control over a clone meant sacrificing a bit of agility. He was just supposed to provide a distraction for the next bit of Naruto's explanation to the rest of the Rookie Nine, so the Hokage would be too busy to watch, but breaking the crystal would provide the same effect.

Not at all to the controlling fox's surprise, ANBU guards burst into the room from both door and window, the Hokage also moving to put a stop to the sudden chaos.

Watching through the chakra-enhanced link to the clone's senses, Kyuubi grinned and instructed it to create absolute pandemonium.

_xxxx_


	29. The Best Plan Lasts,,,

_So, a short-ish chapter, but at least it's here!_

_The Best Plan Lasts…_

Naruto sat quietly in 'his' tree, waiting for Shika and Shino to bring their teams while Sasuke scouted the town with a _Kage Bunshin_, Sakura, and the Sand Trio. He was glad that half, including Hinata, of the group he was going to be talking to had already been convinced, otherwise the 'briefing' would have been the stuff of nightmares.

Once Kiba, Ino, and Choji were convinced, it would be time to bring in Kurenai. Between her and Kakashi, they should be able to convince Gai and his team pretty easily, but Asuma… safer to leave him out for now. There was still too much at stake and there was no guarantee that his estrangement would mean he wouldn't feel compelled to warn his father. The Sandiame could not be told, not yet. Not unless they managed to kill Orochimaru before Sarutobi got killed.

But Gai and his team would be great assets once convinced. Their loyalty was rivaled only by the Inuzuka and Aburame, a rare gift.

Thinking of which… both those Clans could probably be safely brought into the know, but it would be difficult to convince them, even with Kiba and Shino helping… Well. That was a plan for another day. Right now, Teams 8 and 10 were coming.

_xxxx_

"Just how much of an idiot do you think I am?" Kiba demanded, his indigence echoed by Ino.

"Yeah, right. Like I'll believe _that._"

Naruto sighed, "I don't think you're an idiot, Kiba, and this isn't a prank, Ino," he glanced at Choji, who pulled out a bag of chips and began to munch, not commenting after looking at Shikamaru for a moment.

"I'm just trying to save my village," he finished in a harsh whisper.

Ino was the one to break the uneasy silence. "All right, fine. Let's say we believe you. What would you have us do?"

"Train, first and foremost. I want you to survive what's coming. Train with all the _jutsu_ you know until you can do them in your sleep. Train with weapons and in _taijutsu_. Train with your families until you have mastered the clan _jutsu_ you know and then learn the next stages up.

Train until you can keep up with Sakura, until teams of _any _three of you can hold off Sasuke when he's serious. Train both individually and as teams; get to know each other and each other's moves. Be able to work together with _anyone_ I pair you with. Keep training until the six of you can hold off Gaara."

Kiba grimaced, "OK, I believe you."

Ino grinned, "Heck you had _me_ convinced when you used the word 'foremost'."

Naruto glanced to Choji.

"Shikamaru believes you," was all he said.

Naruto nodded, "All right. I have one _kinjutsu_ I'm going to teach you—_Kage Bunshin._ Don't make more than one at a time until I tell you you can. It's a _kinjutsu_ for a _reason._ Use it—set one to training with whatever you're training in and it'll speed up your progress. And learn to dodge instead of block whenever possible—you'll last longer."

_xxxx_

_Is that Tayuya?_ Sasuke wondered, spotting a familiar form several blocks away. He channeled chakra to his eyes briefly, enhancing sight.

_Kuso._ Snake-face was stepping up his game if he was sending in that freaky lunatic tomboy.

_Naruto…_

_xxxx_

_Kill her if you get the chance,_ Naruto ordered darkly, _but be careful. She's got the Heaven Seal… and, this time, you don't._

_Burn the body?_ Sasuke asked.

A slight sense of affirmation was the only reply as Naruto turned his attention back to his 'new' recruits. "It looks like we're going to have to step things up a bit," he said wryly. "I should have realized that Orochimaru wasn't going to take getting beaten back in the forest lying down. He's sent in some of his Sealed."

Sasuke had only seen Tayuya, but where she was, more followed.

"Shino, I need you to bring your father here," Shibi he could convince, with Shino's help. Tsume as well. "Kiba, your mother. Hinata, bring Kurenai, but leave Asuma out for now."

_Sasuke, get Sakura and the Sand Sibs to find Team Gai and send the lot of them this way. You keep tabs on Tayuya until you have a chance to deal with her._

Things were about to get complicated. At this rate, they might _have_ to bring the Old Man into the know.

_Kuso._

_xxxx_

"My student has done nothing wrong," Kakashi said sternly, glaring at the majority of the Council. Several of the major Clan Heads were missing… and where was the Sandiame?

Something stank of sedition and betrayal.

It was only a minor relief that those main Clan Heads weren't there. There were enough—even Hiashi—there that over half the village was represented.

"His skills are far beyond that of an ordinary Gennin," Hiashi stated, "Do you deny this?"

Kakashi glared, "He is talented. Is it his fault that he had to learn quickly and _hide_ what he learned in order to survive in his own village?"

A few of the Councilmembers shifted uncomfortably, but not nearly enough.

"How can you defend the monster that killed your beloved teacher?"

And _that_ was what it all came down to. The Kyuubi… or was it Juubi now that he had another tail? That aside…

"For one thing," Kakashi bit out, _not_ happy with the line of questioning, "The Kyuubi didn't kill the Fourth. He sacrificed himself in order to stop it's killing rampage. And… even if it had… I seem to have more faith in Arashi-sensei's abilities than any of you. I do not doubt his sealing—the boy is not the demon." A few of the Councilmembers exchanged glances, starting to doubt themselves.

"He must at least be in contact with the beast in order to be so advanced."

Danzo. Damn him.

"Yet he hasn't killed anyone in Konoha, despite years of abuse?" Kakashi asked, knowing enough not to refute the accusation directly. "Does the Hokage know of this… 'meeting'?"

That got a bit more uncomfortable shifting.

Kakashi snorted, "I didn't think so. I'm leaving."

"You have no authority to-"

Kakashi didn't wait to hear the rest of what Danzo had to say. He used _shunshin,_ heading for the Tower. The Hokage had to be informed… and so did Naruto.

_xxxx_


	30. Until the First Kunai Flies

_Another shortish filler-type… sort-of. Not entirely. At any rate, it's up._

_Until the First Kunai Flies_

_This… isn't going to be easy._ Naruto looked down over the group gathering below, hiding himself from sight, sound, and smell as well as chakra-sense with a twist of demon power. Shibi and Tsume were there, brought by their sons, and Team Gai with Sakura and the Sand Sibs. Everyone but Hinata and Kurenai had arrived and there was much confusion amongst the ranks.

With Gaara, he had a bit of back-up, and Sakura and Gaara's siblings would follow their leads. Shika would probably help if called upon, though he would complain that it was 'troublesome' and do so while looking up at the sky. He _should_ have thought of calling for Iruka and Kakashi, but it was too late for that now.

"Please be patient," he called down, dropping onto a lower branch and shedding his demon-powered _genjutsu._

The students were not the only ones to jump.

"Why are we here, _gaki?_" Tsume barked angrily.

"Hinata is coming with Kurenai. When they arrive, I will explain."

_xxxx_

Naruto decided to try and keep things brief, starting with something shocking and intending to stick to the theme. "I know about the Kyuubi," he stated calmly, "and I have already told the other Rookies."

The tactic worked. The adults were stunned and Gai's team confused. "I will explain to Lee, Neiji, and Tenten later," he assured.

Not at all to Naruto's surprise, Shibi was the first to speak.

"How did you discover this?" he asked in his quiet, deliberate way.

"The traitor Mizuki told me just before he tried to kill me," Naruto said simply, "But that is not what I called you here to tell you. Sasuke, Gaara, and I are from sixteen years into the future… when everything has gone to hell."

… He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but the dead silence wasn't it. Disbelief, denials of possibility, sure, but not silence.

He didn't know how very old and tired he looked when he spoke, though, how world-weary and close to broken.

Then Tsume spoke up with the straightforward practicality of the Inuzuka.

"Prove it."

_xxxx_

First Naruto spoke of things—things about them he should not have known. Then he showed a perfect Rasengan, which he _may_ have known, then Hiraishin, which _no one_ knew.

"You reverse engineered it from the seals on the kunai?" Kurenai asked, awed. Not only by the accomplishment of something thought impossible, but because of the implications of it all. In order to have reverse-engineered it, he had to be at least as good with seals as the Fourth himself, and there had been no one to teach Naruto an art that took the best and brightest at least ten years to learn.

Naruto had to be telling the truth. It was the only explanation.

"Yeah. Took some doing, but I don't use it much. Too flashy. It gives to much warning and can be countered if someone sees where the kunai land. I've been working on a seal-less version that doesn't have the flash, but I can only pull it off tapping a thread of demon chakra."

"Is that what you've been practicing against Sasuke?" Sakura asked, intrigued.

"Yup," Naruto offered a bright grin, "Good eye, Sakura."

The girl looked pleased with the praise, "Thanks, Naruto."

He shrugged, "Simple statement of fact, Sakura. Now, we've still got a lot to do. Gaara?"

Shukaku's host nodded slightly, "All Gennin except Sakura, Hinata, and Lee follow me."

The three named exchanged glances as the others rather reluctantly did as they were told. Gaara's sand had to do a bit of prompting in some cases, and it was only Naruto's assurance that they would not be harmed past normal minor training injuries that kept the Jounin from interfering.

"Lee, you'll do best if you continue working with Gai. Sakura, I want you to work with Kurenai. You have the control for her particular brand of _genjutsu._ Hinata, go into town and find a Jounin named Mitarashi Anko. You'll recognize her as the head proctor for the second exam. Attack her with _everything_ you've got and demand training. She won't turn you down."

Kurenai winced a bit at Naruto's choice of trainer for Hinata, but he was probably right about the method of getting her to agree to training. And Hinata _did_ need a confidence boost, so who better than Anko?

Except… well, the woman was a friend, but the idea of Hinata adopting her habits was downright frightening. It would be interesting, at any rate.

"Tsume, Shibi, I've still got a few things to talk to you about…"

_xxxx_

Sasuke silently stalked his target through the streets of Konoha, privately impressed. Ordinarily Tayuya was about as subtle as a flying mallet, but she was being remarkably professional about her duties in the village. He made note of all her contacts, who she spoke to, who she brushed up against, and who she gave signs of recognizing that in turn seemed to recognize her.

She was being so careful at what she was doing that it would have been hard to track her and remain unnoticed if he hadn't known all her tricks _and_ had Naruto's chakra-hiding _jutsu._

But just as she was slipping into the forest, her guard dropped a bit, and Sasuke took the chance to strike.

_xxxx_

Kakashi entered the Hokage's office, automatically making a hand-gesture he had learned as an ANBU captain, one meaning there was need for absolute secrecy and the message was of utmost urgency.

The Hokage immediately dismissed the various aids and activated the privacy wards—that was about when Kakashi registered the state of the room and was _almost_ distracted from his reason for coming. But questions would have to wait, although he had the sneaking suspicion that the state of the room had something to do with Naruto.

"Hokage-sama, I was just called in front of over half the council and questioned about Naruto. Danzo was the most outspoken and I believe he is searching for an excuse to have the one he thinks of as a 'demon brat' executed."

Sarutobi's eyes hardened and a look of cold fury settled over his features. In two sharp handseals he dismissed the wards and vanished.

Kakashi made an educated guess and followed.

_xxxx_

The encounter was brief and brutal, Sasuke landing a devastating hit on Tayuya's curse seal before she could begin to react.

The furious blast of chakra that exploded from the damaged seal threw him into a nearby tree and killed Tayuya instantly. Sasuke, chakra still hidden, fireballed the area to disguise what had happened. It would look like a training accident with sensible traces of only one chakra source and the body would be incinerated far beyond recognition.

With so many strangers in the village for the Chuunin exams, it would be presumed that it was a foreigner—which it was, technically—and soon be forgotten.

Orochimaru would be the only one to find out who it was… and he would be _furious._

_Naruto? Mission accomplished._

_xxxx_

Naruto confused the two Clan Heads he was talking to by stopping very nearly in the middle of a sentence, tilting his head slightly.

Then he gave a slightly bloodthirsty grin, "I just received word from Sasuke. One of the Heaven Sealed is dead, and Sasuke has located several contacts of hers within the Konoha. The rest aside for now—between the two of you, you should be able to get at least some of them to Ibiki…"

Shibi showed little reaction, but Tsume echoed Naruto's grin. Once convinced, she—like her clan and dogs—trusted completely.

"I'll ask how you know that later," she decided, "Just tell me who."

To the Inuzuka, there was nothing worse than a traitor. One who turned against his own declared pack was despicable at best to the loyal clan's eyes, though spies who started out and remained belonging to another village were not quite as despised.

Naruto was glad of that trait, as it made his life easier—and the Aburame weren't far behind in loyalty. He started listing names.

_xxxx_

Gaara worked the Gennin hard, forcing even the arrogant Hyuuga—whom he remembered as a near-friend—to admit that, even together, they were _badly_ overmatched.

The fact that his own siblings couldn't completely hide their terror when his sand encased them stung, a testament to the madness that the two-point had initially inflicted on him. It had taken years to build true trust between them, and now all that was gone.

But they learned.

Mostly dodging and awareness, but both those things would help them to survive in the coming war.

It would fall to Sasuke to teach physical offense and control, while Naruto would test their _jutsu,_ teaching more if needed.

It would be hard on them, but they would survive. And that was enough…

And after the Chuunin exams, they would do the same for Suna's young.

It had to be enough.

It _had_ to be.

_xxxx_


	31. Changes

_Changes_

Kurenai was surprised by how well Sakura grasped the concepts of _genjutsu_ and impressed at how quickly the girl picked up on some of the more advanced control exercises. Of course, she didn't know that Naruto and Sasuke had already been working with her.

Even with the extra tutoring, Sakura _was_ progressing at an impressive pace. Kurenai thought the girl would soon be able to use a few of the simpler _genjutsu_ and found herself having fleeting thoughts of taking an apprentice.

_xxxx_

Hinata had searched almost the entire village by the time she found the woman Naruto had sent her after—taking apart a ninja bar. A _bar._ In the middle of the _day._

The second-exam proctor reeked of sake and dango and Hinata vaguely wondered what Naruto had been thinking, sending her to train with a woman like _that._ Especially given what she was wearing—she'd thought the fishnet had been a play to get the Gennin off-guard before the second exam, but it no longer looked that way.

Still, the woman had—while drunk—taken on quite a few Chuunin and a couple Jounin and won. And Hinata was fairly certain Naruto had sent her to the woman for her skills, not her faults. So she did as Naruto had instructed.

"Mitarashi Anko!" she cried, launching forward with everything she had_._

Hinata barely managed to close off one of the woman's _tenketsu_ before she was flat on her back, a kunai to her throat and bound by hissing snakes.

Against all reason, Hinata smiled—a viciously pleased expression. "Train me."

Anko blinked, stared—and began to laugh. "You've got guts, girl! We'll see how you do."

_xxxx_

Ibiki was startled, though it didn't show, when Tsume and Shibi appeared in his office, dragging two apparent civilians and looking furious.

… Well, Tsume looked furious; Shibi was simply frowning, which was the greatest show of displeasure the scarred man had ever seen from an Aburame.

Still, that two clan heads, much less _those_ two clan heads, would do such a thing… Only traitors could upset them so. The two clans had only their levels of loyalty in common. (That they would admit, at any rate.)

And traitors were Ibiki's territory, through-and-through. However, certain protocol had to be observed.

"What are they accused of?"

The answer was far worse than he had expected.

_xxxx_

The Sandiame Hokage was more than merely displeased. No, he was downright _pissed off._ Even more so when he teleported into the council chamber to find it showing signs of recent and hasty desertion.

Kakashi was no more pleased than the Hokage, though perhaps a _little_ less worried on some counts, he knew more about what was happening with his so-called 'student' and had far more to worry about overall.

He was not surprised to find the chamber deserted—Danzo was too quick to get caught quite so easily—but hopefully the man had forgotten about Kakashi's Dog-contract.

"_Kuchiose no Jutsu!"_

_xxxx_

Sasuke blinked when a tall borzoi ran up to him, a small scroll held carefully in between sharp teeth.

He accepted the scroll, recognizing one of Kakashi's summons—the quick breed was good in a fight, but far better as messengers. The dog nodded once and vanished in a puff of smoke and Sasuke unrolled the paper, then swore.

_Danzo's loose._

Sasuke turned his attention towards the Hokage mountain, _Naruto? Trouble._

_xxxx_

Naruto winced a bit, _You know what? I don't even want to know, Ky._

He had initially asked what exactly the Fox had had the clone do to distract the Hokage, but the combination of glee and reluctance was all too telling. Better not to know—plausible deniability and all that.

_**Good.**_ The giant demon seemed all too pleased to be let off the hook and Naruto was about to snipe back, but the conversation was interrupted by Sasuke's mental voice.

Naruto sighed after he received the quick report. _Looks like we'll have to change our plans._

_Or at least speed up the timetable,_ Sasuke agreed.

_All right, time to talk to Shika._

_I'll find 'Kashi,_ Sasuke volunteered, knowing that Shikamaru would be better able to come up with something with a first-hand report.

_Training ground three,_ Naruto instructed absently, scanning for Shikamaru's chakra signature. _Found him. Meet me in half an hour._

_Hai._

_xxxx_

Hinata was flat on her back, filthy, battered, and exhausted. She hurt all over—and she felt better about herself than she ever had after a match with her sister under her father's condemning gaze. Physically, she had been beaten far worse than her sister had ever done, Jyuuken or no, but the crazy Jounin Naruto had sent her to had pushed her to her limits, then pointed out everything she was doing wrong… and then told her what she'd been doing _right._

Her father never had a kind word, and, though Anko had been more matter-of-fact than _kind_, her simple honesty on both wrong and right gave Hinata a bit more confidence. Naruto's obvious faith in her didn't hurt, either.

So if Anko and Naruto both agreed with Kurenai that Hinata _could_ be great… then maybe it was her father who was wrong. Who was unreasonably harsh, as Kurenai had said once, delicately. But why?

"All right, girl," Anko's voice cut through her semi-dazed musings, "That's enough for today. You've got a long way to go, but you're not half bad for a rookie Gennin." Anko remembered seeing how this one was treated by that stuck up bastard, Hiashi, and was determined to prove him wrong. "Meet me here tomorrow at 0800 and we'll work out a schedule. You're _my_ apprentice now."

Anko was half-expecting a groan in response—she hadn't exactly gone easy on the girl—but Hinata surprised her by sitting up slowly and grinning.

Anko's answering smirk was downright _scary._ "I think I might like you, runt."

_xxxx_

Kakashi was _fuming._ Pakkun's confirmation that Danzo had been there wasn't enough, according to the Hokage. It was, after all, Danzo's council seat. Of _course_ he had been there, and the man was clever enough to twist words into making Kakashi look like an idiot.

"You and I both know what's going on," the Hokage seemed older than usual, ancient and tired. "But Danzo has too much support."

Kakashi opened his mouth to protest, then hesitated. He frowned behind his mask. Danzo _did_ have too much support, far too much for a clanless like he was. Why would he need that kind of support unless he was planning on becoming Hokage?

… That was a disturbing thought.

"Hokage-sama…" he trailed off, uncertain.

And a crackle of static in the air gave way to Sasuke, half crouched and kunai in hand. Black eyes noted who was in the room, and Sasuke straightened, the kunai vanishing. "Hokage-sama, Kakashi-sensei. Sensei, Naruto would like to speak with you—he's waiting at training ground three." A half-seal and crackle of electricity later, and Sasuke was gone again.

Kakashi was not the only one to blink at the empty space. He sent a questioning glance to the Third, who nodded.

Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a curious Hokage to return to his tower, only to remember that his scry-crystal had been shattered by a wayward fox earlier.

He cursed.

_xxxx_

_Short chapter, I know. But this is just proof that I'm still here._


	32. New Beginnings

_New Beginnings_

Kakashi showed up at training ground three to be greeted enthusiasticly by Naruto and… less than enthusiasticly by Shikamaru. The Jounin ignored the mutter of 'troublesome' and immediately launched into his story.

Shikamaru sat up, frowning.

Naruto shook his head, "Maybe I _should_ take Gaara's suggestion…"

"Not yet," Shikamaru ordered absently, still thinking. If they did things just right… Danzo would be the one discredited. Carefully, quietly, Shikamaru began to outline a new plan.

_xxxx_

Gaara sat quietly at the table, staring out the window above the kitchen sink. His siblings had just come to the doorway and he could sense them hesitating there, uneasy.

He sighed silently; it stung that they didn't trust him the way they had… _before._ It stung a lot, if he was honest with himself, even though he knew it would take time to… _build_ the bond that he still felt he'd just lost.

Sand trickled from the gourd beside him and moved back two chairs in silent invitation.

There was a moment's pause before Temari moved, Kankuro following her into the room to take the offered seats.

Gaara glanced at them and offered a slight smile.

It was a start.

_xxxx_

_No, this is not the whole chapter. I scrapped the rest pending rewrite—and ANY suggestions, ideas, comments, or questions would be welcome. Anything to get me thinking about this story—I'd hate to give up on it. So, please, anything at all to help…_


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